The Hyuuga's Black Eye
by TheParagonPariah
Summary: The war is over. The nations have been united. Peace has been introduced to the ninja world. However, one cannot live in a world of light without finding a few shadows. Follow the tales of a young Hidden Mist child named Jiyu as he slowly becomes a hero for the new generation, and unlocks the unknown powers of the Byakugan! WARNING: OC CENTRIC!
1. Introduction

**A/N: PLEEEAAAAASE REEEEAAAAD! Hey there, this is my first story! This first chapter is abysmally short, but please remember that it's simply an introduction to the whole story! I'll crank out nice and long chapters in due time, but for now this is all I have. Feel free to give me tips on improving my writing, and don't forget to leave a review! I hope you stick with me and read the rest of my story as it comes out! Thanks! :)**

**UPDATE: I would like to inform anybody reading this that the story is going to be very long (around 100 chapters by the time it's done, I'm pretty much going from the main character's childhood all the way to his early adulthood, and he will change A LOT overtime), and that I already have major events planned out. I would also like to state that you might just come across a few familiar individuals from time to time (I won't say who, you'll have to see for yourself). Also, if you couldn't figure it out from the story title alone, the byakugan will be involved. The byakugan WILL GET UPGRADES in this story, and it will get haxx powers much like the sharingan and rinnegan. However, that's WAY down the road, so you'll just have to stick with the story to find out how the byakugan gets upgrades and what they are! With all that said, PLEASE FAVORITE/FOLLOW IF YOU LIKE THE STORY! Thanks, and enjoy! :)**

**MORE UPDATES: Thanks to a fantastic reviewer by the name of Zerojackson, I will be improving my writing style starting from chapter 12. I looked back at these older chapters, and the seemed kind of 'bleh' to me. However, those who bear through the first few chapters and manage to make it past the 12th will win ONE FREE COOKIE! I hope you all stick with this story as watch as Jiyu grows into one of the world's finest shinobi! :)**

Prologue: The Day of Tomorrow

The continuous flow of time introduces countless changes to the world, some grand and others miniscule. All these changes eventually shape the world into the way we know it. However, there is the occasional revolutionary who wishes to bring about a change so grand and so malicious that even time itself would not be able to repair the damage that it forces upon civilization.

Obito Uchiha was one such revolutionary, a man who planned to bring peace to the world via means of an eternal illusion. Although the shinobi world desired peace, a world full of fake peace was just as bad as a world plagued by war and death. This schism between Obito and the shinobi world was the catalyst for the Fourth Great Ninja War, and would push the five great nations to their very limits.

However, on the side of the shinobi allied forces was another revolutionary. A young man who also sought a world of peace, a world free of war and hatred. The difference between this young man and Obito, however, was that this young man was willing to bear all the hatred and sorrow that this world felt in order for true peace to take place. This young man, a jinchuuriki for the kyuubi and the child of prophecy, was Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto, a boy born to shoulder a burden that would curse his childhood, was determined to prove to the world that even someone as unloved and unpopular as him could become something as great as the Hokage. This was his dream, his very reason to be a shinobi: to prove himself to the world. When the time finally came for him and Obito to decide which direction fate would turn to, he proved to the world that even if you start as nothing, you can always mold yourself into something spectacular. Naruto Uzumaki defeated Obito Uchiha on the field of battle, bringing an end to the Fourth Great Ninja War, and thus ushering in a new wave of peace into the shinobi world. Had it not been for him, we would be here to share this story today. However...this tale, which I am about to share with you, my good friend, is not about Naruto...

It has been ten years since then, and in saving the world, Naruto had ensured not only that his wildest dreams would see the light of day, but that his name would be engraved into history. His tales of bravery were to touch every soul of the next generation to come. He is now a legend, a legend that shall never fade from existence. However, when a new legend is introduced to the world, the effect is quite similar to throwing a stone into a pond. Such an impact on the world causes a ripple, affecting all those who float aimlessly among the waters. One such person is a young boy from the Hidden Mist Village, a boy named Jiyu Tamashi. Jiyu, like many other children from the all around the new shinobi world, has heard countless tales of the legendary Naruto Uzumaki. What makes Jiyu different from the common rabble, however, is the fact that he does not care about the hero who saved the shinobi world. He certainly acknowledges Naruto as someone great, but does not feel as amazed as others when hearing about what he has done. To Jiyu, Naruto is merely a symbol, a figurehead. Most children that he knew wished to be just like Naruto Uzumaki. Jiyu wishes only to become as strong a shinobi as he can possibly be, and simply maintain the peace that the hero had introduced to the world.

Tomorrow would be the first day for Jiyu at the Ninja Academy in the Hidden Mist Village. Tomorrow would be the day that he had been looking forward to ever since he first heard about what a ninja was. Tomorrow would be the day he took his first step into the world of shinobi.


	2. Father and Son

**A/N: Hello there, anyone reading this! Wow, you actually decided to go to the second chapter? I'm surprised, but thanks! I know the introduction was a little short, so tell me if you think this chapter is short as well (I'm new here and don't know how long a chapter should be). Hope you enjoy it! :)**

It was early in the Hidden Village of the Mist, around six in the morning. The moon and sun had slowly began to swap positions among the horizons, the sun's light slightly illuminating the misty morning sky. The town was silent, calm, peaceful. The only noises anyone would here by stepping outside would be the gentle wind blowing or the sound of waves gently rolling across the lakes. It was the perfect time of day for some early-morning training. At least, it was for one specific child.

A 12-year-old boy by the name of Jiyu Tamashi was sitting on the side of his bed, awaiting his father to wake up and take him out onto the lake to do their daily morning training sessions. His room was small, yet comfortable. The walls were painted white and the floor was made from planks of smoothed-out wood, the most cluttered part of this floor being under his bed where a plethora of books were concealed. His bed was in the far left corner of his room, a window right beside the bed about a foot above where his matress met the wall. Jiyu liked his bed positioned right beside the window, because outside the window was a perfect view of the mountain range all the way across the great lake that sat beside their house, allowing anyone looking through to see the sun rising in the distance. Since it was so early in the morning, the rising sun did just that as it slowly began illuminating the room, the first bits of sunlight beaming into the far right corner of his room, which is where his dresser was. His dresser faced the part of the bed where Jiyu's feet would normally rest. It was partly open, allowing anyone who peeked inside to see wooden practice weapons like kunai and short swords. On the wall opposite of the one which the bed was against, there hung a simple mirror with a black frame. Jiyu was staring at it blankly; the morning light coming in from behind him made his reflection seem more like a silhouette. He stood up from his bed slowly and got closer to it as he examined himself, knowing that he would have to look presentable on his first day at the academy.

He had black hair that grew long enough in the back in order for him to have a ponytail. The front of his hair was a tad bit spikey, but he usually had it combed down so it didn't poof out. He had hair on the sides of his head which also were long and straight, and they went down far enough to frame his face as well as be level with his chin. He had solid black eyes and a warm smile across his face. He wore a dark blue, short-sleeved jacket with a popped collar. The jacket had a zipper on the front, but it was only zipped up halfway to reveal a grey shirt underneath the jacket. Jiyu wore nothing on his arms, but his knuckles had numerous scrapes and healed cuts on them due to the copious amounts of training he did with his father. He wore black pants, and had a brand new leg pouch attached to his right thigh.

Jiyu's smile grew with each thought he had about the academy. He put his hands in his pockets as his mind raced tirelessly. _What will all the other students be like? Will they like me? I sure hope they do. I wonder if anybody in the class had trained as much as me. How tough will the homework be? Will I have a lot of it? _Jiyu stopped letting his mind run rampent with questions as continued to stare at himself in the mirror. He sure has grown ever since he began training. He's been interested in the way of the shinobi ever since he was able to speak. He remembers that he began training with his father at the age of five in taijutsu, and began branching off into things like chakra control and ninjutsu around the age of 10. His father expected many great things from him, and Jiyu was determined to not let him down.

The sound of a door opening quickly caught Jiyu's attention as he turned his head to the left slightly. His door opened slowly, his father already dressed up in his shinobi gear and showing his usual friendly grin. "Hey bud, you're lookin' pretty sharp today. Hoping to get the attention of all the girls in class on your first day?" Jiyu's smile faded and his eyelids lowered as he turned a bit red, embarrassed as his father let out a small chuckle. "Well c'mon then. Let's get your training out of the way so you can get there nice and early, alright champ?" Jiyu grinned slightly, nodding in approval. Jiyu's father was Ketsui Tamashi, a shinobi who was fortunate enough to survive the Fourth Great Ninja War and return home with his wife. Ketsui wore the standard jounin apparel for the Hidden Mist village, his headband turned slightly towards the left side of his face. He had short, black, messy hair and brown eyes. He was more tanned than his son, and had a scar going underneath both of his eyes and going over the bridge of his nose. He had a short chinstrap beard and always had a grin on his face, something that rubbed off onto Jiyu apparently. Jiyu ran past his father and out the front door, eager to begin training. Ketsui watched his son dash outside, and calmly walked out after him, quietly closing the door.

An hour had passed since Jiyu and his father left, all of which was spent training. Jiyu recieved a palm strike to the chest, he flew onto his back but quickly recovered and got onto his feet. "That was very good Jiyu! You're getting much faster!", his father said behind raised fists. "Now, come at me again! Remember to focus the chakra into your limbs when you attack!" They were out on the training grounds, a large green field surrounded by a ten-foot high chain-linked fence. The morning mist had covered the grass in dew, ensuring that the slightest misstep during the spar would result in someone slipping onto their face. Jiyu ran at his father quickly, letting out a battle cry as he leapt up and attempted a speedy roundhouse towards his father's face. Tetsui quickly blocked the blow with his forearm, leading Jiyu to kick off his father's forearm and charge again, this time low and directing a multitude of punches at his father's mid-section. Tetsui began meeting each of Jiyu's blows with open palms, countering every attack he did. What he did not expect, however, was his son grabbing both of his hands rather than punching them. Jiyu grinned when he got a good grip on Tetsui's hands, and used them to pull himself up as he did a backflip kick towards his father's face. It missed by inches, and Jiyu let go of his father's hands in order to finish his flip and land on his feet. When he did land, he pulled his arm back to throw another punch, but stopped when his father put a hand on his shoulder. Tetsui simply closed his eyes and smiled at his son.

"That's enough for today, champ." Jiyu relaxed and lowered his fist, smiling wide and nodding at his father. _He's gotten so fast, and he's getting more clever every time. Using my own defense to launch an attack of his own, I'm impressed. _Tetsui opened his eyes and looked at his son.

"Alright, it's been about an hour and I'll have to report in soon. Before I head out though, I just want to see you do that jutsu I showed you. Can you do it?" Jiyu gave his father a thumbs up and turned away from him. He began to weave hand signs and inhaled deep.

"Wind Release: Mighty Gale!" Jiyu opened his mouth wide, a large, wide gust of wind rushing out as he exhaled. His father just nodded his head in approval. _He's even managed to master one of my jutsus, and at such a young age too. I have no doubt that he'll be at the top of his class for sure. _

Jiyu finished and looked back at his dad. "How was that, pa? Did I do it right?" Tetsui simply put his hand on his son's shoulder again and looked down at him. "You did it perfectly, champ. I'm real proud of you." Jiyu just smiled and scratched the back of his head, glad that he was able to match his father's expectations of him. Tetsui took his hand off Jiyu's shoulder.

"I've gotta go now, alright? Get to the academy on time and make sure to be friendly with the other students! Remember, a true shinobi is not only strong, but kind as well." Jiyu nodded at his father's advice and waved goodbye as his father vanished in a blur. Jiyu put his hands in his pockets and looked towards the academy, which was at the far end of the training grounds behind the chain-linked fence.

"A true shinobi, huh..." thought Jiyu out loud. He just stared at the academy for a moment, and then started walking towards it at a leisurely pace. "Alright then...I wont let you down, pa." When Jiyu got to the front door of the academy, he let out a deep breath and went in, taking his first step into the world of shinobi.


	3. Allies and Enemies

**A/N: Hey there! I tried to make this one longer, so I hope you like it. Yes, I'm also aware about the lack of action going on, but this is a story my dear reader! I plan to have chapters dedicated to nothing but action in the future, but I need to build up to that first! Thanks for reading, and please post a review if you have anything to say. Thanks! :)**

A few months had passed since Jiyu joined the academy, and he was taking every single minute of it very seriously. Although the the lectures from the class's sensei were rather boring to him and despite how much he was expected to read, he managed to endure it all and maintain a position within the top five students of his class. The other four were some nerd nobody liked, one of the few members of the surviving Hoshigaki clan, some girl who fancied herself to be Jiyu's "soulmate" (and yes, Jiyu did take advantage of any/all situations that got him away from her), and finally the Hidden Mist's new jinchuuriki. Even though Jiyu was normally a nice kid with no ill feelings towards anyone, he was rather annoyed with the jinchuuriki. This jinchuuriki's name was Mendona Unmei, and he WAS the top student in the class. He had dark-brown hair which poked out slightly from under the sides of a grey bandana that he wore on his head, and his eyes were dark blue. He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt and had a faded blue, short-sleeved collared shirt on top of that, which was zipped shut. There was a white Hidden Mist symbol on the back of his collared shirt, and he had the right forearm of his black shirt wrapped up in bandages. He also sported grey shorts, had a single pouch on either side of his hips, and always had smug look on his face.

Now, why on Earth would Jiyu hate this jinchuuriki so much? Was it simply because of the fact that he WAS a jinchuuriki? Well, in a way, yes. All things change with time, and one of the many things to change in the past ten years was the way people acted towards jinchuuriki. Since the legendary hero Naruto Uzimaki was a jinchuuriki himself, the people of the shinobi world began to view them as possible saviors of mankind rather than destroyers. With this new way of viewing them, having the jinchuuriki train to be as strong as possible was the top priority of any village that had one. The jinchuuriki trained with only the strongest of jounin, and were tutored by the best scholars that the village had available. Despite all of this, they still attended the normal academies so that they would be able to form bonds with their future allies. As a result, they usually had a high advantage over the other students in terms of both intelligence and skill, which lead to them also being the most popular child in the classroom.

Jiyu hated him. No...he actually envied him. Jiyu had worked very hard throughout his childhood as well, and wanted a little attention from the class to go his way. Yet no matter how good Jiyu was, Mendona was leagues ahead of him in every aspect. Luckily for Jiyu, he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about his personal feelings towards the jinchuuriki. If he made himself the enemy of Mendona by saying anything harsh, he would effectively make the entire class his enemy. It was for this reason that Jiyu was typically quiet, just making small talk with his classmates every now and then. He didn't want to take the chance of accidentally letting the truth slip out. So he stayed silent...and watched. He watched and listened to Mendona ramble on before today's class started.

"Yeah, me and Isobu get along real well! It tells me all these stories about the other jinchuuriki that came before me and what it was like being with them. It also says that I'm probably the kindest one it's had to be with!" The class was huddled around Mendona as he talked about the three-tails yet again. Jiyu was facing his general direction in his seat with an arm layed out casually on his chair's back, though his expression was one of boredom.

_S__eriously, how many times has he told us the EXACT SAME THING? Unbelievable, and everyone's actually STILL interested. Why do they LIKE him so much? _Jiyu closed his eyes and bowed his head while pinching the bridge of his nose. He sighed quietly to himself and let go of his face, suddenly taking more interest in the desk than in Mendona's rambling. It was a simple wooden desk made for three students to sit at, nothing unusual about it. It suddenly became a very uncomfortable spot to sit at though, because the girl who was head over heels for Jiyu seemed to randomly appear in the chair beside Jiyu. His irises shrunk when he noticed this, and he glanced over at her without moving his head at all.

"Hiiiii Jiyuuuu!", she cooed with a gleeful smile on her face.

_Aw man, it's her. I thought this morning was bad enough with Mendona's blabbering, but now she's here too? She's here, next to me? Aw maaan, I'm not in the mood for this... _"Oh...h-hey Tenshi."

Tenshi Kyofu. Probably one of the few girls who's eyes were not always directed towards Mendona. The problem with HER though, was that her eyes were always directed towards Jiyu. She had long orange hair and bang over her left eye. She had freckles, green eyes and an innocent face which seemed to have the ability to brighten up anyone's day (if they wanted to be around her, that it). She always wore a faded green turtleneck sweater which was slightly too big for her, since it looked like she could hide half of her face with the collar of the thing. She wore faded brown shorts and had bandages wrapped around her lower right leg. Did Jiyu find her cute? Sure, he thought she looked cute. He didn't have a problem with the way she looked, though. The way she acted was what annoyed him. She always came into his personal space when he just wanted to be alone and think. She was a motormouth, hyperactive, and just always around when he didn't want her near him. He had no hard feelings towards her though, so he never lashed out at her. He never even showed anger towards her. The only thing he couldn't help was looking a little bummed out when she popped up beside him, which she never seemed to notice. Even though she had a tendency to be annoying, Jiyu still appreciated her company, and did talk to her when he felt like it. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days.

"Soooo what's up?" She still smiled at him, slightly red in the face due to them sitting next to each other.

Jiyu just sat there, looking at her without facing her directly, his irises still small. "I'm, uh...well..nothing much...how about you?" Before she could begin, the instructor walked in and began class. Jiyu sighed, knowing that both she and Mendona would shut up now that class was beginning...well, one of them would anyways. An hour into class, and she began whispering to him.

"Hey, me and Tsuyo are going to get some grilled fish later. You want to come with us?" Tsuyo was the nerd who was also in the top five of the class. Jiyu didn't know much about him, or even remembered what he looked like. Heck, he never even hung around the guy. All he knew was that he was the only kid in class who wore glasses and had trouble speaking up in front of people.

Jiyu's eyelids lowered as he kept his attention towards the front of the class. "I dunno. I'm gonna be busy after class."

Tenshi now bowed her head slightly, staring at him in a doubtful way. "You always say that you'll be busy. I'm beginning to doubt that, you know." He ignored her still, hoping she would just drop the subject. "So what are you soooo busy with that you can't come with me and Tsuyo just to hang out?"

Jiyu finally looked at her and gave her a friendly smile, which suprised her and caused her to turn more red. "Well it's just that me and my pa planned to do some serious training after class today, and I'd hate to let him down. You understand me, right?"

After a brief pause, she just smiled and nodded shyly. "Well...some other time then, right?", she asked him as she turned her attention slowly to the front of the classroom. Jiyu responded with a simple "sure" and looked to the front of the classroom as well. _Whew, that went well. I'm suprised she bought it. _

Jiyu glanced over at Tenshi slightly to see her twirling her hair in her finger slowly, looking down at her desk with a slight smile and still red in the face. Jiyu felt slightly guilty now, seeing how innocent and kind she was about him turning her down and falsely agreeing to doing it some other time. _Well...she's annoying, that's for sure...but was it really right to lie like that? What would pa think? _He scratched the back of his head and glanced downwards slightly. _Man, I'm letting Mendona's rambling get to me, ain't I? He's annoyed me so much, I'm starting to push other people away for no reason. She's not THAT bad, really...mmmm...maybe I should unwind a bit. Grilled fish does sound pretty good, too. _Jiyu nudged Tenshi slightly, and she looked over at him.

"What's up?", she said quietly.

Jiyu smiled nervously and shrugged a bit. "Well...I think I can clear things up with pa so I can hang out with you and Tsuyo. It's cool if I show up a little late though, right? I've gotta take care of some things first."

Her expression said it all for him, she was overflowing with happiness at his statement. "S-sure! You know where the barbeque place is, right? We'll be waiting for you inside!"

Jiyu nodded and leaned back in his chair watching her out of the corner of his eye, she was playing with her hair faster than before. _Yeah, it won't be so bad after all, _he thought. When the class was dismissed for the day, he headed home and explained to his father where he was going and why. After getting approval, Jiyu walked to the destination that Tenshi had told him about.

* * *

The mist was not that thick today, which allowed Jiyu to see the bright blue sky as he made his way towards the barbeque. He had his hands in his pockets and was going at a leisurely pace through the village, allowing him to take in the frantic, yet energetic surroundings of a major village. There were shops with wandering customers here and there, chatting endlessly as they shopped. A few children ran past Jiyu, laughing and playing as they chased each other down the road. He smiled a bit as he watched them, and looked up to see the barbeque shack coming into view down the pathway he was taking. Then he squinted his eyes...something was going on. Tenshi was standing between Mendona and some poor, terrified guy. Mendona looked pretty annoyed, and Tenshi looked like she needed some help. Jiyu ran over to see what exactly was going on.

"If Tsuyo had something to say about me, I'd like him to say it to my face instead of hiding behind his girlfriend", Mendona said. Tsuyo was a few inches shorter than Tenshi, who was basically the same height as Jiyu. He had short blond hair and wore rectangular glasses, which stood in front of his brown eyes. He wore a brown hoodie with the hood down, which had black tribal markings all over it. He also wore tanned shorts, each leg having two pockets going down the side. And yes, he was quivering behind Tenshi, because he did say something about Mendona...little did he know that Mendona was actually within hearing distance when he said it.

Tenshi frowned at the jinchuuriki as she bravely stood her ground. "You're being a real jerk, you know that? He didn't say anything about you!"

Mendona just crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realize that I was close enough to hear him say it, right? Now what was it he said...something about me being 'full of myself' and 'thinking I was so cool'?" Tenshi's expression changed slightly, showing a bit of concern.

_Oh...so he really did here Tsuyo right. Ohhhh...why does this have to happen now? Can't he just leave us alone? _Right on cue, Jiyu had come in to aid them.

"What's going on here?", Jiyu asked Mendona as he walked up with his hands in his pockets, not exactly looking amused having to speak with the jinchuuriki. Tenshi smiled when she saw him, and Tsuyo just watched as he slowly began to calm down.

Mendona shot Jiyu a dirty look, unfolding his arms as he focused all of his attention on the boy. "None of your business, that's what's happening. Now get out of here, I'm busy." He said as he turned his head back to Tenshi and Tsuyo, eager to prove his superiority through a rather violent process.

What Mendona did not expect, however, was for Jiyu to move himself in between him and Tenshi. Jiyu gave the jinchuuriki a cold hard stare, a hint of both excitement and anxiousness clearly visible in the black voids that he called his eyes. "Hey...that wasn't very kind. I just wanted to know that the big deal was. Is there a problem with that...jin-chuu-ri-ki?", Jiyu snarled, the last word practically dripping with venom as he slowly said it.

Mendona's frown grew deeper, offended by his title being slandered with Jiyu's tongue. In fact, he was so angry that he didn't notice himself balling up a fist by his side, which Jiyu managed to see out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, you're not used to people talkin' like that to you, huh?", Jiyu said with a smug grin as he pulled his own hands out of his pockets. Jiyu was ready for a fight; in fact, he was hoping to start one. If he could land one punch on the bastard's face and show him the jinchuuriki that he's no better than the common rabble, then Jiyu would be satisfied with his handiwork. "Well Mendona...what are YOU gonna do about it?", Jiyu said as he leaned in slightly, raising his fists in a defensive pose.

The two fell silent as an ominous wind began to blow, rustling the leaves of the trees scattered around the Hidden Mist. Tenshi and Tsuyo stood behind Jiyu as they watched; him trembling as he thought about how he caused this, and her hoping that Mendona wouldn't hurt her precious Jiyu.

"Go ahead, jinchuuriki...make my day", Jiyu challenged Mendona with a whisper, his face full of concentration.

Mendona snarled slightly, baring his teeth at the defiant boy that stood in front of him. What was this, why did Jiyu keep referring to him 'jinchuuriki' instead of using his name? Furthermore, why did he feel offended when Jiyu called him that? It was an honorary title! So, why did it make Mendona feel...uncomfortable? Nobody had ever talked to him like that before, and it made him angry...very angry. But what was he to do, fist fight with Jiyu? Bloody his nose a bit? No, he wanted to do something worse...something that would truly teach Jiyu not to talk to him like that again.

"...maybe some other time", Mendona said as a small grin curled up on his face, confusing the battle-ready Jiyu. The jinchuuriki simply turned his back to the three fellow students and began walking away, showing no further signs of hostility. Jiyu had kept his guard up until he saw that Mendona was too far away for any sort of surprise attack, and then finally relaxed and lowered his fists, grinning victoriously.

"Well, that's over", he said in a satisfied tone, but was taken by surprise when Tenshi ran to his side and glomped his arm.

"Ohhhh, thank you Jiyu! You were so cool!" Jiyu slightly sweat-dropped and sighed, it didn't take her long to get all peppy again. Jiyu looked back at Tsuyo, who was looking down at the ground. Clearly, the nervous boy had no idea what to say.

Jiyu just grinned at him, eager to at least get the boy's spirits up. "Hey man, you should be more careful next time."

Tsuyo looked up at Jiyu, still nervous-looking. "T-thanks Jiyu", was all he managed to spit out. Jiyu simply nodded at the boy while grinning, showing that he was happy to be of help.

"Now let's get some fish. I came here with an empty stomach and I hope if gets filled", he said as he began rubbing his hands together. The three of them went into the barbeque shack, ready to unwind and forget about what had happened. Sure, Jiyu may have just made Mendona his enemy, which was something he didn't want to deal with. However, he knew that he at least was not the only enemy Mendona now had.


	4. A Plan for the Future

**A/N: Hey! I'm getting super close to one of the big events in this story that I have planned out! The super-big event is most likely going to happen in the next chapter, so please be kind enough to follow and review this story and see what fate has in store for them (a favorite might not hurt either)! Feel free to give me tips or simply guess what's going to happen later on! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it! :)**

It had been a long time since Jiyu made his rebelious stand against Mendona, almost nine months ago to be exact. The time for the finals was just around the corner, and Jiyu had been studying as well as training with both Tenshi and Tsuyo. Today had gone by fast, it was already late in the afternoon. With the sun setting and all the children going home with their parents, one would expect them to do the same. However, they were all out on the training grounds practicing some basic taijutsu.

"C'mon Tsuyo, you can do better than that, can't you?", said Jiyu as he crossed his arms and looked down at an exhausted Tsuyo. He was sprawled out on the grass and panting deep, his glasses crooked and his face covered in sweat and light bruises. Jiyu sweat-dropped and sighed at the sight of this. "Don't tell me that you don't know how to fight! How do you plan on being a ninja if you can't even defend yourself?" Jiyu helped Tsuyo stand up, dusted him off and looked at Tenshi. She was leaning against a log which had a bullseye attached to it, one of the many in the area. She was also munching on a some chips from a bag she was holding. She stopped chewing and gave him a confused look. "What?", she asked quizzically.

"It's your turn. Tsuyo needs a break" said Jiyu as Tsuyo just nodded quickly in agreement. Tenshi put her snack down, helped carry Tsuyo over to the log and sat him down by it. They both stepped away from where he was sitting, and gained some distance from one another. Jiyu slightly grinned as he got into a stance. "Don't hold back now..."

_This is it! This is my chance to impress him! _Tenshi blushed a bit and nodded at Jiyu with a shy smile. She also got into a stance. _Ohhh, I wonder what he'll say if I do alright! Maybe I'll get to train with him alone? Just the two of us? _She began to imagine it all in her head, and sighed deeply...and then heard Jiyu shout "GO" as he began to rush her at full speed. She was suprised to hear that, and snapped back to reality only to see his right fist fly at her face. Her irises shrank and she smacked his forearm on the side, redirecting his punch past her head. Jiyu looked a bit suprised, since he wasn't expecting such a fast reaction from her. Instead of pulling his fist back though, he pulled his right fist in towards his chest, and spun around. He then slightly lowered himself and attempted to hit her with his left elbow. She didn't see it coming, and his elbow connected with her stomach. She stumbled back and held her gut, bowing her head and gasping for air.

_He's being serious...that one actually hurt. _She looked up and began weaving hand signs, but he rushed at her before she could finish whatever technique she had planned.

"No ninjutsu! Use your fists!" he shouted at her. He brought his right knee up to hit her again, but she quickly slammed both of her palms down onto it, stopping the attack. He lowered his knee and threw a left hook, which she barely managed to dodge by ducking. However, dodging gave her an opening to strike: his mid-section. She threw a left punch at his gut, and it connected. _I got him!_ _I actually got him! _Jiyu grunted a bit, and reacted fast by grabbing the arm she used to attack. He threw her arm to the left, which caused her to stumble in that direction. He then reverse spin-kicked her in her left side, making her fall onto her right side. She groaned and got up, rubbing where he got her. She looked pretty discouraged right now. _Oh, who am I kidding...he's too good for me. I'm not going to impress him like this. I wont be able to impress him at all..._

Before she could say anything, Jiyu just gave her a smile, as if he read her mind. "Hey, don't look so down, you're doing alright! You just need to speed up a bit, and you wont have a problem."

Tenshi just grew an embarrassed smile on her face. "Well...I would have used ninjutsu since that's really the only thing I'm good at. You just got too close before I could do it. You're too fast for me." Jiyu just looked at her, then turned his head to look at Tsuyo. He had just stood up by himself and was breathing normally again. Jiyu looked back at Tenshi with slight concern.

"Maybe, but we gotta work on Tsuyo's and your taijutsu for the final exam. Ninjutsu and major genjutsu won't be allowed because they dont want anyone to get seriously hurt, y'know", Jiyu said.

There were two portions to the final exam at the academy: a written portion and a physical portion. The written portion was self-explanitory. You go in, answer a bunch of questions relating to things like chakra control and so on, and head outside. Then, when everybody in the class was done, the physical portion would begin. The physical portion was a free-for-all, five-minute melee between the students to determine how they would react to certain combat situations while on missions. It was essentially the same test given in the days where the village was still known as the "village of the bloody mist", but with one major exception: no serious harm was to be inflicted on the other students. As a result, ninjutsu and high-level genjutsu were not allowed (if a student was able to preform such techniques, of course). Anyone who DID use either of the two would automatically fail, so any students experienced in taijutsu would have a slight advantage. However, the biggest part about this portion of the exam was that the top three students would be placed into the very first team of genin (assuming they all passed the written portion). This team would be considered very important to the village, and were expected to reach great heights in all aspects important to a ninja. So, it goes without saying that being in team one was a pretty big deal. So big, in fact, that there were always students who forged alliances in order to ensure that they all got spots on team one. Jiyu and his companions were no exception. However, it meant nothing if the team could not preform well when seperated.

Tenshi let go of her side and started twirling her hair with a finger, slightly red in the face due to embarrassment. "Yeah well...the exam is only a few days away. My taijutsu isn't the greatest and Tsuyo has no talent for it at all, since he only practices genjutsu. We can't improve ourselves that fast, so I think we need another plan".

Jiyu paused as he took this in. He spent a load of time with these two, sure, but he just realized that they never EVER talked about themselves when they hung out. He looked at Tsuyo, who just scratched the back of his head. "...wait...you guys NEVER practiced taijutsu? Like, one of the BASIC FORMS of self-defence? Which uses little to no chakra?" There was complete silence among them, and Tenshi just let out a nervous laugh.

"Well...it sounds bad if you put it that way...yeah..."

Jiyu grew an anger mark and started shaking his fist at them. "ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME? WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GONNA DO OUT THERE, HIDE WITH GENJUTSU UNTIL THE FIGHT'S OVER? I HOPE YOU DIDN'T EXPECT ME TO TAKE CARE OF THE FIGHTING BY MYSELF!". Again, Tenshi and Tsuyo were both silent, the ladder looking down and making a small, nervous sound. Jiyu looked at them both, and sweat-dropped. "Really...that was your plan..." he said as he lowered his eyelids slowly.

"W-w-well, Tenshi m-mentioned that you t-t-trained a lot, so we t-t-t-thought that you could handle it..." mumbled Tsuyo, now trembling upon realizing that they may not be able to accomplish their goal. Tenshi twirled her hair faster and looked away, realizing the same thing.

Jiyu just sighed and looked up at the sky. _Well...they sure do seem to have a lot of confidence in me. But what about themselves? They must be really doubting themselves right now._ He grinned and let out a gentle chuckle, which caught the attention of his friends. "Well, I'm glad you guys think that about me, but I'm hopeless without a few good pals by my side". He gave them a thumbs up, and his grin became that smile he was known for having. "So, I'm going to make sure that you guys'll be ready for the exam! And that, my friends, is a promise I intend to keep! We'll be a team for sure!" He put his fist out, waiting for them all to bump fists with him. They looked at him in a suprised way, amazed that he's able to shrug off this bad news, and be so optimistic about it. "We'll be the best team that this village has ever made...I'll bet my life on it..."

Tenshi paused, and smiled at him while putting her fist out. Tsuyo still didn't do it yet, thoughts racing through his head. _Me? In a team like this? I'm not going to be able to do it, I'll just end up letting them down. _He looked at Jiyu, trying to see if he was sincere. Jiyu looked at him, closed his eyes and kept smiling at him. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not the kinda guy who makes stuff up on the fly. That ain't my style, y'see"

Tsuyo still hesitated, but slowly began to put his fist out. Just before he joined them though, Jiyu spoke up one last time. "Tsuyo, you're gonna be a great nina one day. Practice with me and Tenshi, and you'll be garunteed to grow strong."

Tsuyo felt...weird. They actually believed in him? That's new for him. He couldn't help but smile nervously and scratch the back of his head. "T-thanks Jiyu. I'll work hard so I don't let you or Tenshi down". He joined fists with them, the trio now standing in the middle of the training field making a vow they intended to keep. The setting sun began to retreat behind the mountain range far off in the distance, as if showing that fate had settled for their arrangement. "Tomorrow after class, we'll meet up here and begin some serious training, got it?", Jiu said. Tsuyo and Tenshi nodded in agreement. They then said their goodbyes and headed home, since it was getting late.

In the distance, behind a target practice post, a fellow classmate was listening in. It was the fifth student who was in the top five of their class: the Hoshigaki girl. Her skin was pale blue and she had small gills on her cheeks along with solid yellow eyes that looked almost like glass. Her hair was long, wild, and dark blue. She had a somewhat muscular body, despite being around the age of 13. She wore a pale, dark purple sleeveless top with a long-sleeve mesh shirt underneath. The also wore dark blue pants and had a white sash around her waist, which was tied up in the back. She had white arm and leg warmers with thin black vertical stripes on them, and had a katana slung over her right shoulder. She had been listening to their whole conversation ever since she arrived to the training grounds. _Heh...so that goon is teaming up with the other two goons. That figures..._ She grinned slightly, her teeth were triangular and sharp, like the teeth on a saw blade. _I don't know why HE wants to know all this stuff, but whatever. _She casually walked off the training grounds and headed down the road. Eventually she came across "him", who happened to be Mendona.

"Hey. What did you find out about them?", he asked her suddenly.

She just gave him that creepy, toothy grin. "My my, in a rush, are we? Well, here's the scoop". She told him every single detail about their alliance, how they planned to train together throughout the week, and so on. Mendona thought about all of this, then nodded with satisfaction. "Heh, I guess I was wrong about you, Sakana. Not all the Hoshigaki are dogs..."

She gave him a look that practically screamed bloodlust, and he quickly stopped smiling. "You watch yourself, jinchuuriki. Unlike most people in the village, I've got no problem with skinning you alive...".

"Well...I think you might want to reconsider doing that. I have a proposal for you. How about you help me take out the rest of the class, and I'll make sure that we can be on team one with one other person of your choice. Deal?"

Sakana thought about this, her face suddenly becoming serious. "My father's wishes are that I be on the same team as Jiyu...so, he is the only one we won't be touching IF I agree...would you be alright with that..."

Mendona frowned. _Of course, of all the people she wants on the team, it has to be him. That loser... _He extended his hand to shake, which she took quickly. "Deal", he said as they shook on it.

She regained her bloody-thirsty, toothy grin again. "Perfect...see you in a week, jinchuuriki...". She quickly ran off, leaving Mendona alone in the fading light of the setting sun to think about this new alliance he formed.

"Hm...guess it can't be helped". He then left for home, ready to get some rest for his training tomorrow.

One week had passed. Jiyu, Tenshi and Tsuyo now stood at the front door to the academy. They had studied and trained hard, now feeling more confident and ready to succeed, ready to become the new team one. They all looked at each other, nodded, and went inside together. It had finally begun.


	5. Unexpected Turn of Events

**A/N: This one's a bit longer than usual, but this is where stuff starts to get serious. I've been waiting to do this part for a while, and now I finally finished it, WOOT! Please like this story and give me any tips on improving my writing! I hope that you will like this story enough to follow it! Thank you, and enjoy! :)**

Ketsui opened his eyes slowly to the sound of thunder outside his warm, comforting home. Today was his day off, which meant that he had the luxury of sleeping in. He stood up and stretched slowly, scratching at his beard and looking around his room in a half-awake manner. He slowly turned his head towards his nightstand, seeing on his alarm clock that it was long past the usual time that he would be awake. He looked back up at the ceiling and let out a loud, obnoxious yawn as he sat up and stretched. He slowly turned himself around and stood on the wooden floor, making his way to the foot of his bed in order to pull out some casual clothes from the waist-high dresser in front of it. He began getting dressed slowly until the thunder roared outside yet again, bringing his attention to the side of the room where his window was. He could see outside that it was pouring heavily, as if someone had upset the sky enough to draw out tears...tears which pattered against the glass of the window as well as the front lawn, Ketsui groaned upon seeing; it was in desperate need of a trim, and he never was the type for lawn care. He sighed and shrugged it off as he usually did and finished getting dressed. He then began making his way to the bathroom, but stopped and glanced over at his nightstand; more specifically, the family portrait he had sitting next to his alarm clock. He walked over to it and carefully picked it up, a fine layer of dust on frame due to him not moving it in a while. He wiped the dust off the frame and stared at the picture, a small grin appearing on his face. He and Warai were standing beside one-another outside their house, a 4-year-old Jiyu standing between them with his eyes closed and an ear-to-ear grin. He looked at himself, his beard used to be much shorter and he looked rather tired in the photo, mostly because the war had ended not too long ago back then. He looked at Warai in the photo, only to notice she seemed just like she did nowadays. She was a beautiful woman with long, dark blond hair. Her eyes were a deep blue and she wore a necklace with the 'yin' symbol, the 'yang' half was a gift to Ketsui, and their necklaces were able to attatch to one-another in order to form a complete yin and yang. In the photo, she was in her casual clothing: a blue jacket with white diamond patterns on the chest, shoulders and back. In the center of each diamond was the symbol for the water country. She wore a loose belt around her waist that really held nothing up, and she wore a long skirt that went down to her ankles. Ketsui put the picture down gently as he looked at his yang necklace, holding it between two fingers gently as he lifted it up to eye level. This necklace of his practically meant the world to him, being the only fitting symbol to describe his relationship with Warai; the two only felt complete when they were together. He lowered the symbol and went into the bathroom to finish the rest of his morning routine, and then shortly afterwards went to Jiyu's room and knocked on the door.

For some reason, though, his son was not answering. Ketsui opened the door to find his son's room empty and the bed undone. _He left already? No training this morning? Strange..._ There were books scattered all over the room, someone was clearly studying all night long. He sighed and closed the door, suprised that his son left so early. What was the big rush all about? At that moment, he felt someone's arms hug him from behind.

"Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" said Warai from behind as she kissed him on the cheek. He smiled as he turned to face her, and kissed her back.

"I slept fine, yeah. Did Jiyu leave already? I thought he'd wanna do some training this morning" he said.

She gave him a teasing smile. "Oh? Is that disappointment I hear in your voice? Well I wouldn't take it personally if I were you. He woke up this morning and went straight to the academy. He told me that he wanted to bring home his new forehead protector as soon as possible so he could show it off to you."

He nodded, and they both walked into the dining room area to eat breakfast. She had made them both some eggs. As they sat and ate quietly, Ketsui noticed that Warai was eating unusually slow.

"Anything wrong, hun?", he asked her.

She just stared at her food, pushing it around slowly. "No", she replied. "Nothing's wrong, it's just that...well...Jiyu's grown up so much and worked so hard". A small tear came from her face as she looked up at him, a proud smile being revealed. "I just can't wait to see him come home...I'm so proud of him...".

Ketsui walked over and gently kissed his wife on the cheek. They hugged, and all Ketsui said was "Yeah...I'm proud of him too...". The gentle noise of rain was the only other sound in the house as they finished eating and went on with their day, anticipating their son's return.

* * *

Jiyu, Tenshi and Tsuyo all walked into the academy building, expecting to be the first ones there. However, to their suprise, nearly the whole class was inside and talking amongst themselves. The trio slowly made their way up the stairs in the back of the classroom towards their usual desk. Jiyu and Tsuyo plopped down, but Tenshi stopped and began feeling around in her pockets. She looked rather annoyed.

"Aw, I forgot a pencil. The instructor wont hand out any spares, will he?", she asked. The boys shook their heads, knowing how strict their instructor was. She sighed slowly and said "I'll be back" as she turned and quickly ran out of the room.

Jiyu held his head and winced a little. He had woken up this morning with a headache and slight eye strain, both of which were still bothering him slightly. However, it wasn't that bad, so he stopped holding his head and looked over at Tsuyo. "So, what formation are we gonna use? Which way do you think is the best way for us to go about making it through the second half of this thing?", he asked.

Tsuyo adjusted his glasses and raised a finger. "Well, I think a triangular formation would work best for us. We can all hold them off with taijutsu, but I'll be using some minor genjutsu to mess up their aim so we don't get too h-". Before he could finish, someone plopped down in the seat next to Jiyu...in Tenshi's seat. It was Sakana Hoshigaki, and she just leaned back in the chair and stared blankly at the front of the class. Jiyu and Tsuyo looked at each other, both of them suddenly very nervous. The Hoshigaki were a clan of shark-like people, and were pretty famous for being blood-thirsty. It was thought long ago that they were completely killed off by a member of their own clan, who in the end became a member of the Akatsuki. It turns out that a few members of the clan had been out of the village at the time, and were able to slowly rebuild the clan from what little they had left. Though they have attempted to show that they are no longer blood-thirsty killers, it was apparent to many that they enjoyed any chance to spill blood on the battlefield. Nobody had any real positive feelings towards them, and tended to just look the other way if one of them came close.

They both looked at her now, and just stared. She seemed pretty calm, maybe she wasn't so dangerous. Jiyu cleared his throat slightly and said "Hey uh...that seat's taken". She quickly snapped her attention to them both, massive killing intent being shot in their general direction. Her eyes practically screamed 'bloodlust', and this made the boys sweat drop and gulp in fear.

"Oh...I didn't see anybody's name on it", she said, and then continued to look at the front of the class blankly. Clearly, she wasn't going anywhere.

Tenshi came back shortly, only to see that her seat had been stolen. She grew an anger mark on her forehead as she walked up the stairs and stood by her seat with arms crossed. Sakana just ignored her, leaning back in the chair still and staring into space. Tenshi's eyebrow twitched as she frowned. _Just who the hell is this? What's she doing in MY seat? MY seat which is right next to JIYU? _Something had to be done about this. Jiyu and Tsuyo gave some small gestures urging her not to do anything, but she clearly didn't care. She tapped the shark girl's shoulder, which caused Sakana to slowly look up at her and made the boys to shudder in fear of anything that could happen.

"What do you want", she asked carelessly.

Tenshi just glared at her. "You should get out of that seat if you know what's good for you...". Sakana gave her a toothy grin, and just put her hands behind her head.

"Take a hike, will ya? You clearly don't know who you're talking to here".

Tenshi leaned in close, fire practically shooting from her eyes. "Oh...", she whispered, "...then who AM I talking to?"

Sakana just gave her the same killer glare she gave to the boys. "Someone who's not going to think twice about gutting you" was her response.

They began having a staredown, lightning shooting between their eyes. Jiyu nervously laughed in an attempt to break the tension between the two. "Heeeey Tenshi? Maybe it's best if you just sit somewhere else today" said Jiyu, which prompted a confused look from her.

"W-what? You'd rather have her sit there instead of me?", she asked.

He just shook his head slightly. "It's not that, it's just...". He looked at Sakana, who just looked back at him. Just making eye contact creeped him out, and he nervously smiled at Tenshi, sweat-dropping. "It's just that I think things would go along smoother if we got the test over with, that's all". Tenshi glared at Sakana one final time, and just went to an empty seat in the front of the classroom. Jiyu and Tsuyo felt bad for her, but they also knew that tempting Sakana would put their own lives in danger. In the end, Jiyu felt that he made a wise, pain-free decision.

The instructor came into the room a few minutes later, prompting the students to silence themselves and get seated. The test was handed out, and everyone began immediately. Everyone except Sakana, that is. Jiyu and Tsuyo silently helped each other out, sharing answers and what not. It was all part of their plan along with Tenshi to help boost their odds of being in team one. However, the Hoshigaki girl was screwing it all up. She made it quite clear as to why she sat by Jiyu: she wanted answers, his answers. She clearly didn't study, since she was copying his answers word-for-word. Jiyu, slightly annoyed by this, attempted to nonchalantly cover up his test, which resulted in Sakana grabbing his arm and glaring at him.

"You do that one more time, and I'll cut your balls off in your sleep", she whispered calmly to him. Terrified, Jiyu let her copy everything else off of his paper. When she was done, she left the classroom and headed outside. Tsuyo was about to get up to turn in his test, but noticed that Jiyu was just sitting there. Tsuyo looked at him, seeing that a small-eyed Jiyu was in a cold sweat as well as sitting with his legs uncomfortably close together. Tsuyo just stayed seated, wondering what caused Jiyu to act like this.

* * *

It was still raining rather hard outside when Sakana left the academy building. She walked to the training grounds, the ground was pretty muddy, which meant she would have to channel chakra into her feet in order to keep herself from slipping during the second exam. As she made it through the entrance to the training grounds, she noticed something a little odd: all the students awaiting the second portion of the exam were huddled into a large circle. She walked over and stayed on the outside of the circle, listening in on what was going on.

"So how's that? If you guys all agree to take out Jiyu and his little gang of pals with me, I'll spare at least two of you! That way, you guys can be on team one with me. Of course, you'll have to decide yourselves who gets to be on team one. Are we all in agreement?" It was Mendona, of course. Sakana frowned when she heard what he was plotting.

_I knew he didn't like the guy, but I could have sworn I told him that I needed him on my team. The only way to garuntee that I'll be placed on the same team as Jiyu is if we spare him. So, what's the big idea here, hm? I couldn't care less about his little friends, it'll be better if they're out of the picture. But father wants Jiyu and me on the same team...so... _Sakana just grinned, and couldn't help but let out a small, slightly creepy chuckle which nobody heard over Mendona's rambling. _So if Mendona's going to betray me like this, I guess it can't be helped. I'll just have to put the freak in his place. _The group's attention suddenly shifted to the entrance, and they dispersed into several smaller groups. Jiyu, Tenshi and Tsuyo were all walking towards the class. Sakana stared at him, trying to figure out why his father had requested that she be in team one with Jiyu rather than Mendona. It didn't make sense. Why this average guy over a jinchuuriki? It couldn't be for his somewhat...annoyingly optimistic attitude that he was known for. All she knew about Jiyu was that he had been training with his parents since he was a child; a small thing that him and her both had in common. However, her parents had raised her to be bloodthirsty, to be a killer, to be a weapon. She knew what she would be when she grew up, a sword for her team to use and discard as they please. Just another tool for them. Expendable, and she was ready to accept that role. However, she didn't know Jiyu's way of handling problems. Would he be strong enough to make the tough decisions that she could with ease? Or would he simply break down under pressure, and prove to be a burden for her? Assuming that all went the way she planned it, then it would simply be a matter of time before all of her questions were answered.

Jiyu rubbed his eyes slightly, his eye strain was feeling slightly worse than before. Tenshi looked at him with a bit of concern. "Jiyu, are you ok? You've been doing that all morning." He just nodded and took his hand away from his face. His eyes seemed alright. The only difference about his black, pupiless eyes was that a few veins were visible in the whites. They finally got to where all the other students were, and turned to face eachother.

"Alright, so we're all ready for this thing?", asked Jiyu. Tsuyo and Tenshi nodded in agreement, though Tsuyo was beginning to shake and stare at his feet. Jiyu looked at him. "What's up, man? You're not getting all nervous on me now, are you? We trained for this, you know that". Tsuyo nodded, but kept quivering.

"I-it's just th-th-that I'm n-not sure how you will handle M-Mendona. W-w-will everything b-be alright?", he asked. Jiyu raised an eyebrow slightly, he could hear that the confidence was slowly leaking out of Tsuyo. He was panicing. Jiyu lightly punched Tsuyo's arm and gave him a grin.

"Of course everything's gonna be alright, we just have to stick together and help each other out! If we do that, we'll be unstoppable."

Jiyu's words seemed to have no real effect on him, as he looked up and glanced over to where Mendona was. Mendona was just staring at them with a cocky smile. Tsuyo looked at Jiyu with worry written all over his face. "B-but what if he's too much for us to handle?", he asked.

Jiyu just kept grinning confidently. "Well", he said, "if he's too much for you and Tenshi, then I'll take care of him. Don't worry about it". Before Tsuyo could protest, the instructor walked over to the students with a notepad in hand. He told everyone to stand in one large circle about five feet away from each other. Of course, the three friends stayed side-by-side when getting into the giant circle of students. The instructor began reading off all the basic rules which Jiyu was already aware of. Then the pain in his eyes became somewhat more intense, causing him to slightly groan and rub his eyes again. _Okay, I know that I spent all night studying, but this can't be just from that. Why are my eyes hurting so much? It feels like they're heavy, and that something inside is just swelling up behind them. Aw man, who am I kidding, it's my entire head...where's all of this coming from? _He opened his eyes and looked straight ahead, Mendona was on the opposite side of the circle with his arms crossed. The two began staring at each other, all noise around the two of them seeming to fade away. _No...he didn't do anything to me, did he? No no, that ain't possible. I would've noticed. Maybe it was that shark girl? _He looked at the arm that she grabbed before, nothing unusual about it. _No, it wasn't her either...how am I going to..._his train of thought was interrupted when the instructor backed out of the circle of students and shouted "go". At that moment, practically every student in the circle charged Jiyu.

Jiyu freaked out, instinctively beginning to weave hand signs for the might gale jutsu. It would easily knock away everyone in front of him. Tenshi slapped his hands before he could finish and stood in front of him. She began punching and kicking any students that came close to her, but she wasn't going to last long with her low-level taijutsu. Speaking of allies, he quickly looked around for Tsuyo, who just disappeared when the instructor started everything. Jiyu frowned and began helping Tenshi out by rushing in and simply dispatching anyone who got near him. He was using everything from fists to knees to elbows to headbutts. His flow of movement seemed to never end as if he used the momentum from every strike he dealt to follow up with another attack. He was untouchable, all that training with his father payed off...and then it happened. He felt his eyes pulse hard, and it felt like his temples were going to explode. He grabbed the sides of his head, and almost instantly realized his mistake when it was too late. Someone hit him square in the jaw, causing him to spin around and get hit by someone else's right hook. He was getting pushed around now, assaulted by everyone's attacks. Tenshi was busy holding off her own students before she realized what was happening to him. She turned to see that his situation was a bad one. "JIYU!", she shouted as she ran towards the crowd. She began attacking the crowd, but it did no good. She soon became overwhelmed too.

Sakana, who just knocked out another student by herself, had noticed the amount of chaos that was falling upon Jiyu and Tenshi. _Wow. That's pretty depressing. I thought he would put up more of a fight. _She ran over and began plowing through the students as if they were paper. Her chakra enhanced strength made quick work of any students in her way, and she began to fend off the other students who were ganging up on Jiyu. He was still standing, just battered and bruised with his fists raised in a defensive stance. He was panting, and he had his eyes shut. The physical damage was bad, but his eyes felt worse. He couldn't even open them now. He began panting deeper, quietly moaning in pain with each exhale. The noises coming from Jiyu caused the rowdy class to slowly stop the brawl and stare at him as they quietly whispered among themselves. Even Sakana had stopped to watch him, her attention being drawn to him like metal to a magnet.

Mendona was watching this all happen, and figured that the students were saving the last blow for him. _Hehehe...well, isn't that thoughtful of them. I guess they know how to please me pretty well. _Mendona quickly dashed towards Jiyu and Sakana as he pulled back a fist in preparation for attack. Jiyu's head pulsed again, and he screamed as he clasped the sides of his head. He fell to one knee, which made Mendona stop in front of him. Mendona kept his fist raised, but looked more curious then anything. What he saw next sent a chill down his spine. Jiyu opened his eyes, and lowered his hands. Jiyu's eyes looked extremely freaky, as if the nerves inside his eyeballs were tensing up. His pupils became very distinct, and seemed to stare into Mendona's very soul. The veins on his temples were now bulging. Jiyu looked freaked out, as he slowly looked at his hands. He could see these blue lines all over his body.

_W-what the hell is this? What's...is that my chakra network? WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME? _He could see all around him, all the students behind them, all of their chakra networks as well. He could even see Mendona's chakra, and began shaking slightly. He was able to see all of them without even moving his head, and he felt terrified by this discovery. He quickly stood up and began looking around, causing the students to gasp as he revealed his freakish-looking eyes. In the midst of this shock, some brave student decided to get on with the exam, and rushed Jiyu from behind. Little did he know that he was already in Jiyu's sight, who at that instant quickly turned and slammed his elbow straight into the kid's face. The kid fell down on the ground and covered his nose with his hands, a small amount of blood leaking between his fingers. "Get him!", shouted Mendona as all the students charged. Jiyu could see them...all of them.

_What is this feeling..._he wondered as he simply began moving, dodging and countering effortlessly. _It's like time is slowing down, and I have enough time to counter each of them. I can see them coming at me from every angle. I can see their weak spots. _Any student that attacked Jiyu was simply knocked down in little time, most of them either getting knocked out or seriously injured.

_My strikes...they feel more focused...more powerful. I can see my own chakra...it's leaving by limbs whenever I use them to attack. _He began moving faster, striking harder, hitting a few students in the massive chakra coils inside their mid-section. He could see chakra shoot out from the other side of where his attacks would connect, and the students would fall and hold the area that they got hit in. Soon Jiyu stopped, and realized that there were only four...no...five students standing. The top five students in the class, actually. Jiyu's back was turned to Mendona, who's irises had shrunken.

Mendona was sweating a little. _What the hell was that? He just knocked everyone away? That bastard...I have to finish him now! _Mendona charged him and let out a battle cry. Jiyu saw him, though, of course. Jiyu could see everything, now. Jiyu turned slowly, but it seemed to him like Mendona was moving even slower. Mendona threw a single punch towards Jiyu's face. Jiyu simply ducked and pulled his own fist back, and then stared Mendona in the eye. It seemed as if time had frozen for them as they looked at each other. They both knew what was coming next. Jiyu had won, he was in the perfect position to counter. Jiyu frowned and did just that as he brought his pulled-back fist upwards, and hit Mendona in the jaw with a powerful uppercut. Mendona's eyes rolled up after getting hit, the chakra from Jiyu's blow flowing through the chakra veins in his head. Mendona went off the ground about a foot, and flew back about five feet. He fell on his back, knocked out.

Jiyu looked at Mendona, and then his hands. His vision was returning to normal, and he noticed the amount of damage he caused. The students around him were all writhing on the ground, some bloodied in the face due to a broken nose. Jiyu's hands, knees, and elbows all had a bit of blood on them...their blood. Jiyu shivered and his eyes shrank, just staring at his hands. Tenshi, Sakana and Tsuyo had backed off during Jiyu's little "moment". Tsuyo was actually invisible the entire time, and had just become visible. He had used genjutsu to hide himself, something that Jiyu mockingly suggested a week ago. Tenshi just stared in shock at Jiyu, and Sakana just seemed curious.

"Jiyu...", said Tenshi. She took a step towards Jiyu, and then got instantly knocked out by a quick punch that Sakana launched into her face. Tenshi fell onto her side, limp and asleep. Jiyu turned around, and saw what happened to his friend. Sakana glared at him. "C'mon, you freak. I'm right here", she said in a cold tone. Before either of them could do anything, the instructor called time. The instructor had sent his assistant to round up some medical ninja as soon as Jiyu used his newfound ability, and these very medical ninja rushed onto the field and began tending to the students. Jiyu stared at Sakana and Tsuyo, in shock. He had just come to a realization: they were the last three students standing. They were team one. Understandably, that wasn't the thing that had scared him. He slowly looked around at his handiwork, his defeated classmates. He felt horrified. Did he really do that? Did he do that much damage without meaning to? Just what the hell was he?

Tsuyo walked over to Jiyu, and was about to say something, but Jiyu just pushed past him and ran off of the training grounds. He just kept running, tears beginning to form in his eyes. He just ran, he didn't know where, and he didn't care either. He eventually made it to one of the bridges used to travel to close-by islands in water country. It was desolate, lonesome, quiet. This was exactly what he wanted. He then fell onto his hands and knees, and began crying. He felt like a monster. He was terrified of his own eyes. Just what happened to him? So many questions began rushing through his head, and he had no answers for any of them. "What...WHAT AM I?", he shouted out to nobody. He grabbed the sides of his head again, tears streaming down his face like rivers. Eventually he stopped crying, and sat against the railing at the side of the bridge. He looked up at the sky only to realize how much time had passed since he got to the bridge. The sun was practically down already, the remnants of it's light had already begun to fade out in favor for the dark of night. He bowed his head and sighed quietly. He now had no energy. He was tired. He wanted to go home and sleep. He wanted to wake up in the morning and pretend that it was all just a bad dream. He knew the truth, though. There was no going back. There had to be a reason for what happened. There must be.

"JIYUUU!", he heard someone shout from one end of the bridge. It was Tsuyo, and he was running with something in his hand. Jiyu just looked down as Tsuyo ran up and knelt down next to him. He was wearing a brand new forehead protector. "Jiyu, what are you doing out here? Everyone's looking for you", he said with concern for his friend. Jiyu just stayed silent, and then he looked in Tsuyo's hand. He held another forehead protector, this one had a black band. Jiyu just stared at it, remembering that he always talked about how he wanted his forehead protector to have a black band.

Tsuyo handed it to him. "I told them you wanted it in black. You didn't change your mind, did you?" Jiyu slowly shook his head, and stared at his headband. He ran his thumb along the cool metal edge of the plate, and examined the hidden mist symbol on it. "They said you broke the rules and shouldn't graduate, but your dad showed up and had a notice from the Mizukage. He gave it to them and then they changed their minds".

After a short pause, Jiyu finally spoke up. "How is everyone...everyone that I hurt", he asked with a quivering voice, trying to hold back more tears.

Tsuyo looked a little upset. "Oh...everyone's fine. A few of them are a little woozy, but everyone was fixed up by the medical ninja. They said something about minor damage to the chakra network, but nothing bad enough to send them to the hospital". Jiyu just went "mmm" in response.

"How's Tenshi...did she pass?"

Tsuyo smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but she was real worried about you". Jiyu just stared down at his forehead protector.

"She's not on team one, is she...", Jiyu asked quietly.

Tsuyo cleared his throat. "Well no, but...she told me to tell you that she didn't care. She's just glad that she helped you get on team one". Jiyu looked at him with suprise, and Tsuyo just chuckled a bit. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Oh, s-sorry about just hiding with genjutsu. I know we had a plan and all, but I got scared when I saw everyone charge us". Jiyu just stood and put his forehead protector in his pocket. It was clear to him that Tsuyo was kind enough to not bring up the weird thing that happened to him, and he was grateful for it. "Oh...your mom and dad are waiting for you at home...try and relax, alright? You're a genin now...and we're both on team one", said Tsuyo. Jiyu looked at him to find that he was smiling again. "You always act so confident, so positive. I never thought I'd be able to say that I was a member of team one, or that I was even a genin. But you helped me, Jiyu. You helped both me and Tenshi become genin, and that's at least something to smile about". J

Jiyu didn't smile, but instead just began walking home. Tsuyo walked by his side, noticing how glum his friend was. "Let's go get some grilled fish tomorrow. Does that sound good?". Jiyu just nodded, and Tsuyo said goodbye as he departed. Jiyu walked home and stepped through the doorway of his house. He found his mother and father sitting in the living room, as if they were waiting for him. They both looked worried as Jiyu walked over. He looked upset, and very unsure of who or what he was.

Warai hugged her son tight, and Ketsui sighed deeply. "Son...we need to talk...".


	6. The Truth

**A/N: Hey there! Wow, you actually read this far into the story? Props to you, dear reader! If you enjoyed the story so far, please favorite/follow this, and also leave a review if you have anything to say! Thanks again for reading this far, and I hope you enjoy the story! :)**

Jiyu sat on a couch in the living room of his home, more silent than the dead of night in the middle of nowhere. Silence was all he wanted to hear right now, it was the only thing he found calming. Unfortunately, he knew that it would not last forever, considering where he was positioned. His parents sat on either side of him, both looking at him with concern. They knew this day would come at some point, but never expected it to happen like this. Jiyu just had his head bowed as he stared at his feet. He was still a bit scared after what happened to him a few hours ago.

Ketsui was looking at his son while leaning back on the couch. _Poor kid. I didn't think he'd unlock the byakugan that way. Hell, I didn't think he had it at all considering the fact that his eyes are black. _He sighed deeply, not looking forward to what was to come next. He would have to tell his son the truth. He put a hand on Jiyu's shoulder, but Jiyu didn't respond to this. He kept looking down at his feet, and he was clutching his new forehead protector in both hands.

"Son", Ketsui said calmly, "I think it's time that you learned the truth about yourself".

Jiyu didn't respond.

"Look kiddo, if you don't wanna hear about it now, we can-"

"No, I want to hear it", Jiyu said blankly, cutting off his father. "I want to hear all of it. Please".

Ketui looked at Warai, who nodded at him. "Well, I'm gonna have to tell you a small story first, then. It all started long ago, around the end of the war. Me and your mother had gotten seperated from our platoon and were searching for some medical ninja..."

_-FLASHBACK-_

Ash and dust were floating in the air, and the cracked stone ground reeked of spilt blood. Zetsu clones and allied shinobi alike layed dead on the ground. There was a large number of weapons stuck in all of them, and whatever weapons were not lodged in a body were littered all over the place. Warai and Ketsui were slowly walking through the battlefield, the ladder helping the former walk. She, who was a hidden mist kunoichi, had broken her leg during a skirmish with a large number of zetsu clones, and barely managed to make it out alive. Her hair was a mess and blood ran down from her forehead. She also couldn't help but keep an eye shut due to the pain she felt. Ketsui, who was a hidden leaf shinobi and didn't know her at the time, was also bloodied and battered. He was slowly panting, exhausted due to a lack of chakra. He had used a new wind jutsu he created, which was capable of slicing through multiple enemies at once, in order to save her. The only drawback was the amount of chakra needed for it. Warai's arm was slung over Ketsui's shoulder, and he supported her with his own arm. They both had a kunai drawn in their free hands, ready for anything.

"Damn this leg...damn this war...damn it all", Warai said through gritted teeth as she attempted to ignore the pain. "Why does this have to happen now..."

Ketsui grumbled a bit. "You complain way too much, y'know that? Seriously, chill out a bit", he finally said after having to hear her complain for the past three hours of walking.

She grew a tick mark and faced him, fire practically shooting from her eyes. "HEY! I KNOW YOU DIDN'T JUST TELL ME TO CHILL OUT! MY LEG IS BROKEN IN THREE PLACES AND YOU JUST TOLD ME TO CHILL OUT? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU HIDDEN LEAF GUYS ANYWAY?"

This prompted him to glare at her. "Ah shaddap, will ya? If you keep shouting like that, the enemy'll find us in no time. We're not exactly gonna be able to do much the way we are now, either"

She quickly calmed down and sighed deep, he was right. "Whatever", she said in an annoyed tone.

They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes, and managed to make their way into a forest next to a mountain. They eventually stopped, or rather Ketsui stopped. He was panting harder now, which made her look at him in a confused way.

"Why are you stopping? Are you tired?" He nodded in response. "Do you want to rest?" He nodded again. "Fine, we'll rest right here then", said Warai as she hopped over to a tree until her back was against it. She slowly slid down the trunk of the tree until she was sitting on the ground; Ketsui weakly trudged over, sat beside her, and leaned his head back.

"So", he began saying. "You never DID thank me for saving you back there".

She frowned and looked away from him. "I didn't need your help, I could have finished it myself". Ketsui began breathing normally and smiled at this. In fact, he began to laugh a bit.

"Yeah right. With that leg? What were you gonna do, sit and wait for them to come to you?" She stayed silent and kept looking away, then slowly looked at her broken leg. She slowly began to look upset. Her specialty was taijutsu, so her injury rendered her useless. She made a fist as she stared at her leg.

"You're right", she said to him. He looked at her, suprised to hear that. "You're right. I was going to die if you didn't show up. I can't do a damn thing with my leg like this". She looked at him, and he could see the pain of being a burden in her eyes. "So...thank you", she said quietly.

He looked at her, understanding how she felt. Then, to her suprise, he just grinned at her. "What's with that look? Don't tell me that you're gettin' all soft on me. You were actin' all tough before!"

She stared at him confused. _Why is this guy so...positive? We're both lost, weak, injured, and in unknown territory. Yet he still just smiles like that? _"How can you smile at a time like this?", she finally asked him.

"Well, I think that the best time to smile is usually a time when nobody else would. It helps cheer everyone up, and puts us all in the same mindset. Besides, I'm smiling cause I know things can be worse", he said.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yeah? How could things be any worse than they are now?"

"Well", he said as he looked up at the dust-filled sky, "I could be here alone right now". Before she could respond, he looked to his side and quickly got up as he dragged her around the tree. "Shit, zetsus", he said as he readied his kunai and watched from behind the tree. A group of white zetsu were gathered outside of a small cave entrance in the mountainside. Warai frowned in response to hearing the very name, and forced herself to stand on both legs. She groaned slightly and turned around to grab the tree for support. Ketsui looked back at her.

"Are you nuts? Sit down and wait here, I'm gonna clear them out". She took out a small pill from her pouch and swallowed it. She made a face after doing so, the thing probably tasted horrible. Whatever she ate, it helped her to stand on her own two feet without showing any signs of serious pain. She looked up at the amazed Ketsui and grinned.

"Don't take me so lightly", she said to him as she ran away from their cover and towards the zetsu clones.

"Damn it, she doesn't even wait to make a plan", he thought out loud in anger as he rushed in with her. The zetsus looked at them both and smiled, clearly seeing the poor condition they were in. Ketsui flattened his hand and pulled it in towards his chest. "Wind Release: Crescent Gale Slash!", he shouted as he swung his arm to the side. His hand made a grey, crescent-shaped slash which flew forward at high speed, slicing nearly all of them in half. There were about five who ducked in time to avoid getting hit, but the were quickly dispatched by Warai. She swiftly got in between all of then and landed strikes powerful enough to make holes in them, causing them to drop to the ground dead. She winced in pain, and took a bit of weight off the broken leg. Ketsui walked over and offered to help her stand, but she shook her head. The two looked into the cave entrance and saw a kunoichi inside. She was sitting against the wall of the cave, and was bleeding badly. She was also holding something in her arms, something wrapped in a bloody cloth.

Ketsui and Warai walked into the cave and knelt down beside her. Whatever she was holding, she held it close to her chest and was crying into it.

"No more", she whispered. "Please...leave us alone."

Ketsui examined her; she was badly injured all over, death was sure to take her soon. He cleared his throat, and the woman looked at him. She had black hair and black eyes, tears streaming down her face. Realizing that they were not enemies, she quickly looked around and relaxed, seeing all the dead zetsu. "Did you two do this...", she asked quietly.

"No", Warai said. "There were a large number of them outside which we took care of, but these Zetsu were already dead. Who are you?"

The woman stared at them, then sadly looked down at the bundle she held in her arms. Ketsui and Warai could see a baby wrapped up in the cloth, sleeping soundly. "That doesn't matter, does it...I'm going to be just another lost life in this war...". She smiled at the baby, glad that it was able to rest during a time of such violence. "I gave birth to this child a few hours ago...his father had left to check on something and hasn't come back since".

Ketsui frowned a bit and shut his eyes. He remembered the large number of bodies he saw with Warai on their way here. _Gone for this long after his own child was just born? He's dead, no doubt. _He looked at Warai, who seemed depressed at the sight of this woman.

"Please...", the woman said. "Please take my baby...raise him to be strong...and make sure he lives his life free...". The two of them looked at each other, surprised at the offer yet understood the situation. Without hesitation, Warai cautiously took the child into her own arms and looked at him; he had an innocent face that almost instantly melted the battle-hardened kunoichi's heart.

Ketsui looked at the dying woman. "What do you mean by 'free'? Free of what?", he asked her gently, seeing in her eyes that she was slowly slipping away.

She smiled weakly at him. "That child's father is a Hyuuga...and as you can see...I am not...if the Hyuuga were to find out about him, there's no telling what they would do...". She slowly looked over at her baby boy in Warai's arms. "I know all about the Hyuuga, and their ways. The seal they place on poor children who are not born in a 'main branch' and so on. That's not the way I want my child to live. I want him to live free...free of the Hyuuga...free of their seal...free of the Hyuuga's 'destiny' for those like him...those not pure in their own eyes". She raised her bloody arm up slowly and put her hand on the child's head. She ran her fingers across his black hair. "I...I never named you, did I...the zetsus just came in all of a sudden, didn't they...". Her eyes slowly began to close, and she was struggling to keep them open. Her arm began shaking. "...Jiyu...yes...that's the perfect name for you...", she whispered as her arm fell away from the baby boy. "Jiyu...your mother wants to be there for you...and...watch you grow up...and enjoy life with you...but I...". Her breathing became more quiet, and she looked at Warai in the eye before closing her own. Her smile, however, grew. "Please...help Jiyu grow into a fine young man...for me...". She kept smiling, and her breathing finally stopped. Warai and Ketsui stood, both looking at each other, Jiyu, then his mother. They had a moment of silence for her, and then left the cave.

-_PRESENT TIME-_

"We made our way back here, to the Hidden Mist Village. It was closer to us than the Leaf Village, and we wanted to honor your mother's wishes and keep you away from the Hyuuga. You're the reason that me and your mother here got married, y'know. You got us to love each other...and we love you as our own son to this day". His father was smiling and looking at him, but Jiyu just kept staring at his feet as he took in all this information.

"So...I'm really a Hyuuga...a Huyuga with black eyes...a Hyuuga with black eyes and dead parents...", was all he managed to say before he began shaking slightly. Ketsui took his hand off of Jiyu's shoulder and sighed. Warai spoke for him.

"Yes Jiyu. But...you know something?" There was silence in the room for a second or two. "We are your parents, too. We raised you as if you were our own child. It doesn't matter what color your eyes are, we love you exactly the way you are."

That was all it took. Jiyu dropped his forehead protector onto the ground and began crying. He lept into Warai's arms and hugged her tight, happy that his foster parents didn't think of him as anything strange. Warai smiled and held Jiyu, letting him cry on her shoulder. "It's okay, Jiyu", she saild softly. Ketsui watched them, quiet and allowing his son to vent out any negative emotions he had about himself.

"When we got back to the village, your mother stayed to raise you. She walked on her broken leg so much that healing it back to the way it was became impossible. She retired as a kunoichi and I went back to help finish the fight. When the war ended, we told the Mizukage about you, and how we ended up finding you. She knew that you'd get the byakugan sooner or later, and also that the Hyuuga clan would not exactly be fond of you. She happily let you stay with us."

After a long embrace with his mother, he got off the couch and picked up his forehead protector. Many thoughts were racing through his head. _Byakugan, Hyuuga..._he suddenly thought of something. Something he was slightly upset by. "Hey pa...are the Hyuuga supposed to be really talented and stuff...", Jiyu asked.

His father looked at him, slightly puzzled. "Well yeah. Why?"

Jiyu looked at him, frowning a little. "All the training we did in the mornings every day...me starting at the academy later than everyone else...graduating early like this..." His father squinted his eyes a bit, trying to figure out where his son was going with all of this. "Did you have me do all that because I was your kid, or because I'm a Hyuuga..." Ketsui paused when he heard this, and Jiyu continued. "Did the Mizukage let me stay here because I was just a kid, or because I'm a Hyuuga..." Ketsui got upset with these questions and frowned. "Hey now, what're you tryin' to say?", he asked.

"Am I only here because I have a byakugan, pa...is that the only reason you guys even bothered with me..."

His parents both looked at him in shock, and his father quickly went to his son and knelt down in front of him. Ketsui put his hands on Jiyu's shoulders, and looked Jiyu in the eye. "I don't ever wanna hear you ask me or your ma something like that ever again, you hear me? We couldn't care less about what clan you came from. We helped you because you were a baby born on the battlefield. There was no way we would've left you out there."

Jiyu stared at his father, and his frown disappeared. He looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed for asking such a thing. "I'm sorry pa...I just...I wanna go to bed..." Ketsui looked out the window, it actually did get pretty late rather soon.

"Well...alright...just remember what we said, alright?"

Jiyu nodded and simply walked to his room, and shut the door.

Hours passed, both Ketsui and Warai went to bed. Jiyu, however, was wide awake. He sat on his floor right by his bed and stared at his reflection in his bedroom mirror, the only sound present being the crickets chirping outside. The moonlight from outside came in through the window, and illuminated the room with an eerie, dim white light . Jiyu kept staring into his reflection's eyes. Those black, abyss-like circles that let him see the world in ways that others couldn't. He remembered reading something about the three great doujutsu at some point in the academy, but nothing specific. Had he known that he was able to use the byakugan, he probably would have payed more attention. He focused the chakra into his eyes, but all he felt was eye strain and began rubbing them. _How did I do it before...come on...can't I just focus chakra into my eyes? _He made a hand sign and tried again. Nothing. He then began forming many different hand signs. He felt like he was coming closer, but still no luck. Finally, he just gave up and just formed a tiger sign with his hands, and focused all his chakra into his eyes at once. He felt the nerves near his temples buldge out, and he winced slightly. _There we go...ah man, that hurts a bit when you do it...I'm gonna have to get used to that. This is so weird. _He opened his eyes and saw his reflection. He could see his entire chakra network, and just how much of his chakra was being focused into his eyes. Needless to say, he needed a large amount to use this technique. He deactivated his byakugan and stood up, facing his window. He had put his forehead protector on the windowsill, and the moonlight was bouncing off of the metal plate. He walked over, grabbed it and walked back to the mirror. After staring at himself for a good few seconds, he slowly tied the headband around his forehead. However, he stopped halfway. It felt pretty uncomfortable with the band going over his long hair in the back. He put the headband onto his bed and dug through a pouch he left on the floor and pulled out a kunai. He watched himself in the mirror as he slowly lifted up the long hair he had grown, and slowly began chopping it off. When he was done, the hair in the back of his head now looked short and wild. He left the strands of hair at the sides of his head the same. This hair that he left somewhat framed his face, and were long enough to go down past his chin by an inch. He looked down at all the hair he had cut off, and felt the back of his head. He liked the way it felt. He now tried on the headband, and it felt much more comfortable. He adjusted it so that the metal plate was was not directly on his forehead, but instead had rotated the band horizontally so that it covered the left side of his forehead. The strands of hair on the sides of his head were both hanging over the headband, one of them covering the metal plate a bit. Jiyu took this strand and ran it under the headband so that it would still hang down like normal, but wouldn't be in the way of the forehead protector. He looked at himself one more time in the mirror, satisfied with what he saw. Although, he didn't exactly feel the same way about how his day had gone.

He clutched his shirt where his heart was. _This morning I went to the academy ready to graduate...now I just feel like disappearing. After what I did to everybody at the exam, nobody will look at me the same way. I'm a complete freak. _He sat down on his bed, head bowed. _And I'm a Hyuuga? A Hyuuga that lives in the Hidden Mist Village? Awesome, totally not weird at all. _He sighed and layed down, shutting his eyes.

After a few minutes of silently contemplating what he should do about it all, he fell asleep.


	7. Team One's First Meeting

**A/N: HEY THERE! So I've decided that I'd start making these chapters longer; around 4000-5000 words to be exact. Why? Simple, because I want to! I figured that it would give you guys that much more to actually read, plus I could squeeze in some extra character development as well as set up for the next chapter. But enough about that, I just want to say thanks for reading up until now! If you've read every chapter up until this point, I salute you my awesome, awesome readers! Please favorite/follow this story if you want to see what "secret powers" I have planned for the byakugan as well as how powerful team one can become! Also yes, I plan to have a major bad guy threaten the peace of the ninja world at some point, but that's later on. Ah whatever, thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy! :)**

In the middle of a large, grassy field stood Tsuyo and Tenshi. The sun was high in the sky, and rays of it's golden light filtered down through a few clouds that hung in the vast, deep blue sky. A gentle breeze blew by as they stared at each other longingly. They were alone, there was no class, no Jiyu, no Mendona, nobody but them. Tenshi had been Tsuyo's friend for as long as he can remember, and always helped stood up for him when he was unable to do so himself. He admired her more than she could ever imagine, and now was the time for him to tell her how he truely felt. He took a deep breath and began weaping tears of joy. "OH TENSHI...I LOVE YOU!", he exclaimed.

"OH TSUYO, I LOVE YOU TOO!", Tenshi replied, tears of joy filling her eyes as well. They ran towards and embraced one another. Tsuyo looked into her eyes, Tenshi into his. They closed their eyes, and brought their lips closer...closer...closer...and then...Tsuyo woke up.

It was early in the morning, the mist outside his bedroom window was very thick, and it was a bit chilly in his house. Tsuyo lay in his small bed motionless, staring at the ceiling feeling very disappointed.

"Another dream", he said out loud. "It's always a dream...isn't it..."

He slowly sat up scratching his head and looked over at his alarm clock; he woke up a minute before it was supposed to go off. He took the alarm clock, shut it off, set it down and got out of his bed. His oversized, light-blue pajama pants were dragging on the floor with each step he took as he slumped over to his closet half-awake. He slowly changed into a black t-shirt and his normal tan cargo shorts. He looked around inside his closet for his brown hoodie, which he seemed to have misplaced elsewhere. He slowly shrugged and walked out of his room. After taking care of his morning routine, he made himself breakfast. He took out some roasted vegetables from a few nights ago and reheated them in his microwave, and took them into his library. The majority of Tsuyo's house is bland and boring, but his library was godly. He had seven-foot-tall bookshelves lining the ten-by-ten room, and each one was filled to their max capacity. There was a chair placed right in the center at a slight angle, and a table with an unlit candle sitting on it. Tsuyo put his plate down on the table and began skimming through his books.

"Let's see here...hmmm...nah...no...don't feel like it..." He finally pulled out a book and stared at the cover. "The Life of Naruto Uzimaki...sounds good". Before he could sit down with his reading material, there was a knock on the door. Tsuyo paused, nobody came to get him on days off. _Now who's that? Could it possibly be Tenshi? Maybe she wants to hang out today? _Tsuyo smiled and quickly made his way into his bedroom, put on his glasses and ran to the front door. He opened it to find Jiyu, standing with his hands in his pockets and his eyelids low.

"Hey, can I come in for a bit? I need your help with something" Tsuyo's smile faded, and his hopes of seeing Tenshi quickly fell through the ground as he looked behind Jiyu for anyone else. What he did see was pretty odd though; anyone who passed by just glanced at Jiyu, some even making a disgusted expression. Tsuyo looked a bit worried and stared at Jiyu.

"Do you know tha-", Tsuyo began but was cut off by Jiyu sighing heavily. Jiyu simply nodded and glanced down at the ground.

"Yeah...yeah, I know. You can't break a few of your classmates' noses and expect people to treat you normally. Can I come in or what?" Tsuyo stepped to the side allowing Jiyu in. He shut the door and locked it afterwards.

Jiyu kicked off his shoes and began walking around, examining the house for anything interesting. All he found was a bland, worn-out paint job on the walls and creaky wooden floors. Also, the house stunk of dirty laundry, which caused Jiyu to make a slight face.

"Jeez, don't your parents ever take care of this place?" Tsuyo just walked through a doorway, and Jiyu began following him.

"I have no parents", Tsuyo said blankly as they walked. "I was born here when my mother and father came back from the war to recover. Some Zetsus snuck into the village and killed them along with a few other villagers". He didn't seem to care anymore, as if he had told the story so many times that it was just that to him; a story to tell others at his leisure.

Jiyu just stopped in the doorway, surprised at his friend's revelation. "Oh...I'm sorry. How come you never brought it up before?"

Tsuyo just picked up a vegetable from his plate and began munching on it. "Well, nobody ever asked. So what do you need my help with?" He seemed eager to get off the subject at hand. Jiyu rubbed the back of his head, which Tsuyo saw was now lacking a ponytail but wasn't about to question it.

"I know you read a lot. Heck, look at all these books you got here. Tenshi's said before that you know about everything and anything ninja-related, so could you...y'know...enlighten me on who exactly the Hyuuga are?"

Tsuyo stared at his friend quizzically, but nodded in agreement. "The Hyuuga are a clan of taijutsu users in the Hidden Leaf Village of the Fire Country. They possess a kekkai genkai, one of the three legendary doujutsu: the byakugan. It grants the user near 360 degree telescopic and x-ray vision. The range of sight for the byakugan improves through training with it. The Hyuuga have developed a unique taijutsu style to work along with the byakugan called the gentle fist. This style-"

Jiyu cut him off by waving his hands. He was amazed by the fact that Tsuyo had memorized that all just by reading about it. Then again, he probably did read it a good amount of times. "Okaaay, I get it. Cool stuff. To be honest, I'm more curious about the byakugan. What else does it do? What are it's limits?"

Tsuyo paused for a moment, then held his chin. _A few days ago, I couldn't even mention his eyes changing. Now he wants to know everything all of a sudden? _"So", he began, "that was the byakugan that you used during the final exam". Jiyu nodded. There was a long pause, and Tsuyo nervously laughed a bit. "Uhhh...can you do it again? I actually never really got to see a doujutsu in person before, and I couldn't get a good view during the exam". Jiyu nodded and made the ram sign with his hands, and his byakugan quickly became active. Tsuyo stepped a bit closer, observing the veins and staring at the now fierce-looking black irises.

"It hurt at first, but I began using it as much as possible. I just activated it whenever I was alone, and now it doesn't hurt anymore. So, what else can it do?" Tsuyo looked at his friend, and looked like he had a question that he was afraid to ask. Jiyu raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, already aware. "What is it? Go ahead, spit it out", he said calmly.

Tsuyo tilted his head slightly and put his hands in his pockets, much like Jiyu would. "Are you a Hyuuga, or do you just have the byakugan because of some freak accident? I mean, I've never read about anyone OTHER than the Hyuuga having them. Not to mention that I've NEVER heard of a black byakugan."

Jiyu nodded slowly. "My real dad was a Hyuuga, my real mom had black eyes. I guess it's just a genetic thing."

His friend slowly nodded at this and held his chin again, glancing downwards. "That would make sense. Naturally a Hyuuga's eyes are white and they never marry anyone outside the clan, so there haven't been any other people with colored byakugan."

"Well that's not what bothers me. I'm stuck with a doujutsu, and I wanna know how powerful this thing can get. I wanna reach it's limits. How strong is it compared to the other doujutsu?", asked Jiyu. That's when a small, awkward silence filled the room.

It was broken when Tsuyo let out a small, nervous laugh. "A-actually, I would say that you got the short end of the stick in terms of power. The byakugan has only one level, and only has the powers I mentioned already."

Jiyu fell silent, deeply disappointed by the news. He's heard many stories about the sharingan and rinnegan and how powerful they were when used by the enemy during the war. Now, however, he can see why nobody ever talks about the byakugan.

Tsuyo could see that his friend was upset, and grinned. "Well, if there's any good news, it's that you should be able to use gentle fist taijutsu". Jiyu looked at him in confusion, and Tsuyo began to explain before a question was even launched his way. "The Hyuuga surgically inject their own chakra into the circulatory system of the enemy. It can help disrupt the flow of chakra as well as cause internal damage; you could do more damage by being more precise with your attacks, but the best part is that you could do damage by simply tapping the enemy while using this technique. That's why it's called 'gentle fist'. Since you already know taijutsu, it shouldn't be too hard for you to pick up."

Jiyu began remembering the final exam, and just what he did. He remembered seeing the chakra systems in his classmates, and how he would almost instantly take them down, as if his attacks were much more powerful. In fact, he remembered the final blow he delivered, the one to Mendona. A small amount of chakra came out of the opposite side of the area which Jiyu struck. That one hit knocked Mendona out. However, Jiyu wasn't targeting a specific area of the chakra network during the brawl; he was just fighting with the taijutsu he learned from his father. Muay Thai, he believes it was called; a fighting style meant to cause severe damage by using not only the hands and feet, but also the elbows, shins and knees. It was devistating if used properly.

"Well, do I really have to learn a whole new fighting style? Can't I just use my own taijutsu and do the whole gentle fist chakra insertion thing with it?"

Tsuyo looked puzzled, and for a good reason. "Well, I'm not sure if that would even work", he said as he thought about it. "I mean, the gentle fist style is all about accuracy. The Hyuuga have to attack with their palms because the chakra dispersal from the palm is much more accurate than it would be from the knuckles. I'm pretty sure that if you combined your taijutsu with the chakra release, the dispersal of the chakra would be much more spread out. You wouldn't as much internal damage as a normal Hyuuga would, but..."

Jiyu raised an eyebrow. "But?", he asked his friend.

Tsuyo cleared his throat a bit. "But, I wouldn't know until you tried it out on someone who was able to withstand the attack. For all I know, it could be just as, if not more effective than the normal gentle fist. If that were the case though, I'm sure the Hyuuga would have picked up on it a long time ago."

Jiyu lowered his eyelids a bit as he slowly deactivated the byakugan. "I've trained my whole childhood learning taijutsu from my...from Ketsui. I'm not about to go and learn a brand new taijutsu style just because some clan all the way out in fire country uses it. I'm not going to be a Hyuuga, and I'm not going to be your average hidden mist shinobi. I'm going to be unique, I'm going to be me."

Tsuyo looked at his friend, then grinned and adjusted his glasses. "You know what? I believe you will..." A sudden confused expression covered his face. "Hey, why did you call your dad Ketsui?", he asked.

Jiyu just looked at Tsuyo with a slight frown. "Well, that's his name."

"Why didn't you call him 'pa' or 'dad' like you usually do?"

"Simple. He's not my dad. He's cool and all, but he's just not my dad."

Tsuyo frowned. "Jiyu, he raised you and trained you, didn't he? You should be greatful for him being there, especially when you could have been alone all the time." He looked down slightly and felt a bit upset. "Just like me...", he said quiet enough for Jiyu not to hear.

Jiyu sighed slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Y'know what, you're right. I'm just feeling lost at the moment, y'know? I don't feel like I belong anymore. All those people in the town, they stare at me now. A few months ago, they'd all smile and wave. Now, they just stare. They stare like I've got eight arms or somethin'. I feel like a freak."

Tsuyo slowly scratched his neck. "Well, ignore them. I'm sure that they will treat you normally in time." He grinned in a friendly manner, and laughed a little. "I mean, it's not like you're a Hoshigaki or anything."

Jiyu looked up, as if he had just remembered something. "Oh yeah!", Jiyu exclaimed, "Today's when our team meets up with the sensei!"

Tsuyo suddenly looked very nervous; he had completely forgotten about that. He ran into his room and started digging through piles of laundry that he had lyring around. Jiyu poked his head in through the doorway and stared at his friend.

"Uh...what are you looking for?"

"My hoodie, I don't know where I put it. I could've sworn that..."

Jiyu's eyelids lowered as he walked into the room. He knelt down and reached under the bed, pulling out the hoodie that Tsuyo was looking for. Tsuyo took it and put it on fast, looking at his friend in a slightly embarrassed way. "How did you know?", he asked.

Jiyu just gave him a smile and a laugh, the first one he's had in a few days. "Rule one about lost stuff: always check under the bed first. I've lost so many things that ended up there, you have no idea. Now c'mon, let's head out to the training grounds. That's where we've gotta be." Tsuyo nodded, and the two were soon on their way to meet their new sensei.

After a few hours of waiting on the training grounds, Sakana had shown up. She had her arms crossed as she walked, and had what seemed to be a perminant angry stare. Jiyu and Tsuyo were hanging out by a target practice post, neither of them noticing that she was nearby.

"So what's it like when you have it active? What's the world look like?", asked Tsuyo.

"Well, everything's in black and white, plus it's all inverted. It's hard to explain. It's also real weird being able to see all around me. I don't even have to move my eyes at all."

Tsuyo seemed to be very interested, as if he was reading something new for the first time. They were both interrupted by a crude laugh, and they turned to see that the one laughing was Sakana.

"Well well, so you DID pass after all", she said while looking at Jiyu. She teasingly poked at his forehead protector, which made Jiyu frown at her. "Odd, I thought that after you pulled that little stunt that you'd fail for sure. I guess the mizukage couldn't pass up on the chance to let a freak like you join a team because of your eyes, huh?"

Jiyu's eye slightly twitched. He lightly swatted her hand away from his head and closed his eyes as he let out a light, tiny chuckle. An anger mark suddenly appeared on his forehead and he held up a fist. "OKAY, I KNOW THAT A FRIGGIN' FISH WITH LEGS DIDN'T JUST CALL ME A FREAK!", he shouted in her face.

She frowned and bared her sharp-looking teeth at him. "Fish with legs? AT LEAST THIS FISH CAN USE HER LEGS TO KICK YOUR ASS!", she said as she gained the same expression as Jiyu. Lightning began shooting between their eyes, and Tsuyo just sweat dropped as he slowly hid behind the target practice post. The two growled at each other, but stopped when they heard someone begin laughing.

"Well, it's good to see that you're all gettin' along!" Ketsui was the one who had been laughing, and he appeared standing on top of the post that Tsuyo was hiding behind, his arms crossed and a grin on his face.

Jiyu looked at him in suprise. "What are you doing here?", he asked.

Ketsui raised an eyebrow at his son and hopped down onto the ground in front of him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm going to be leading team one!". Jiyu's irises shrank in response to hearing the news.

Ketsui tilted his head slightly and stared at Jiyu. "I requested this position. In fact, I went to the mizukage personally just to see that she acknowledged my wish." Ketsui looked over at Tsuyo, who had just came out from behind the post. "C'mere Tsuyo, join your team!", he said. Tsuyo walked over to both Jiyu and Sakana, the three finally resembling some sort of team. Ketsui nodded in approval. "Now that's more like it. So, first thing's first: lets get some introductions out of the way, shall we? It's not for you, it's for me. I want you all to tell me about yourselves; your likes, dislikes, your goals and ambitions. Why did you become a ninja? What is your ninja way?"

The three genin stood silently, glancing at each other slowly. None of them felt like volunteering, and the silence caused Ketsui to chuckle. "C'mon now, no need to be shy. How about I start, hm?" He put his fist in front of his heart and gave them a confident look. "I am Ketsui Tamashi, a jounin of the hidden mist village. I like spending time with my wife and son, and I dislike tedious missions. I became a ninja to help bring the shinobi world to a state of peace, which we now have. To pursue my dreams and ambitions until the very end, that's my nindo, my ninja way."

Jiyu just stared at his father, then glanced down a bit. _To pursue dreams and ambitions until the end, huh? What dreams could he possibly have now that the war is over? _

"Sakana, why don't you tell us about yourself?" asked Ketsui, snapping Jiyu and Tsuyo's attention over to her. She looked a bit surprised to be called on so suddenly, but sighed and just decided to go along with it. "I'm Sakana Hoshigaki. I like smithing weapons and armor with my fellow clan members as well as battling with any weapons I've made."

Jiyu looked over at the katana she had slung behind her waist. The sheath looked brand new since it lacked any signs of wear-and-tear. _So she made that sword and sheath herself? That's actually pretty cool, making and training with weapons that only she would have. I wonder if she'd make us anything._

"My dislikes are morons and weaklings", she said bluntly. "I became a genin because I hope to one day become a swordsmen of the hidden mist. To be fearless and cut down anybody who opposes me with my own hand-crafted blade, that is my nindo, my ninja way."

Ketsui just stared at her, and she stared back. _She's serious about that last part. No doubt about it, the Hoshigaki clan really are raised to be killers._ He gave her a smile, which surprised her. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want to be your enemy, then", he said with a slight chuckle. She crossed her arms and looked over at Tsuyo, prompting Jiyu to do the same. Ketsui looked at the nervous genin and pointed at him. "You're turn, Tsuyo. Tell us why you're here", he said.

Tsuyo turned slightly red, feeling the gaze from everybody's eyes falling upon him. He looked down and began to studder. "M-m-my name is Tsuyo Sakkaku. I like r-reading and being with friends. My d-d-dislikes are people who d-don't respect me for who I am. I b-became a genin just s-so I could make a few f-f-friends and become strong. T-to always use brain over brawn and aid my allies w-with any knowledge I have, that's my nindo, my ninja way...". Tsuyo cleared his throat and kept his head bowed, more red in the face.

Jiyu looked at him, grinned and lightly punched his arm. "Hey man, that sounds like something you'd do easily!", Jiyu said to him. Tsuyo just nervously smiled and rubbed the back of his head. Ketsui looked at his son almost immediately, as if looking forward to hearing what he had to say.

"Okay kiddo, you're up next", he said as he scratched his beard.

Jiyu's smile faded when he looked over at his father. _I guess now would be a good time to tell him how I feel. About being part Hyuuga, being an orphan, the byakugan, everything. _Jiyu cleared his throat. "My name is Jiyu. I don't know what my last name should be, honestly; either Tamashi or Hyuuga. Both work, I guess. I just don't know who I really am at the moment, so...whatever."

Ketsui's face grew a very small frown, as if he wasn't expecting to hear that from his son.

"I enjoy training, getting stronger, hanging out with my friends and being with my foster parents. My dislikes are people who think that they're better than others just because they've got something that others don't. I became a genin because I wanted to just be a normal shinobi who helped keep the peace. But y'know what? There are loads of people who graduated and wanna do the same thing. So, I guess it doesn't matter if I decide to have a different goal now."

Ketsui raised an eyebrow.

Jiyu activated his byakugan, and pointed at his eyes. "See these? These things put me in a bad spot with the people here in the village. These things made them hate me, but y'know what I think of these? I think of these as a gift, a blessing from my real parents. These eyes are unique, one-of-a-kind, alone in this world. And that's why..." Jiyu suddenly smiled wide at Ketsui. "That's why I'm going to train with these, work with these. I'm going to unlock the secrets to the byakugan, and discover it's true power! I'll give people a positive reason to gossip about me! I'm gonna make these eyes become legendary!" Ketsui slowly smiled at this, and Jiyu deactivated his byakugan as he hit his own chest with his fist. "To avoid being your average shinobi or your average Hyuuga. To avoid just being average. To become the best that I can be, and put my life on the line for what matters most. That's my nindo, my ninja way." He let his arm drop to his side as he looked at his father, and he could see approval in Ketsui's eyes.

_He's grown up more than I thought. He'll be a fine shinobi for sure. _

Ketsui clapped his hands together. "Okay, now that we've all gotten to learn a bit about each other, it's time for your first test as a team!" The three looked at each other, and nodded at Ketsui. He took a few steps back and crossed his arms. "Alright. Your test is simple, and you have until tomorrow morning to complete it."

Sakana made a slight face out of confusion. "Hey, if it's so simple, why do we need until tomorrow morning to complete the test?"

Ketsui gave her a cocky look. "Oh, the goal is simple. Actually doing it is not. In order to pass this test, you three have to work together in order to defeat me." Sakana smirked with excitement, Jiyu raised an eyebrow, and Tsuyo's irises shrank. "You three are allowed to go all out. Use whatever tactics or combat skills you are most well-versed in. You must come at me with the intent to kill, 'cause I'll be using any skills I have to keep myself from losing."

Sakana grabbed the handle of her katana, already drawing her sword. "Heh heh heh...this is gonna be real fun, sensei...", she said. Her voice was practically oozing with bloodlust, which made Jiyu hope that she wouldn't get carried away.

Jiyu just made the ram sign with his hands as he activated the byakugan, and got into a stance.

Tsuyo, on the other hand, was not getting ready. "S-sensei Ketsui? What happens if w-we fail?", he asked as he slightly quivered in place.

Ketsui's face suddenly became very serious. "Simple...", he said calmly. "You all fail, and go back to the academy. Understand?" All three of them suddenly felt very nervous. Tsuyo gulped and pulled his hood up over his head, nodding at Ketsui's words.

"Alright, remember: come at me with the intent to kill. You won't do anything if you give me any less than 100%. Your test begins now." He got into a stance as the three genin rushed him. It was time for him and the genin to see what team one was capable of.


	8. Sensei's Test: Team One's Teamwork

**A/N: Okay, this one took a little longer than usual to post. My reason is simple: I had no clue what to do with this chapter. I just had no real interesting ideas, so it's not like I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to happen in this chapter. As a result, I continuously put it down and picked it back up, adding little bits each day. I think it came out alright in the end, though. OH YEAH, I WOULD LIKE TO THROW A SMALL CONTEST! I will say this right now: there WILL be a chuunin exam portion of the story. With the chuunin exam will come appearances of certain official Naruto characters, now fully matured into adulthood and leading their own teams. For this contest, I ask you amazing people to come up with a few ideas for kekkei genkai that their students would use. These bloodline limits MUST be original, though. I refuse to use one that isn't. Please leave a review with any ideas your have for kekkei genkai! Oh yeah, if you have an OC and PM me with a short bio about them, I might just use them in the story (if you want, of course). Well, that's all I have to say for now. I hope you enjoy! :)**

The three students rushed Ketsui at once, each one with a different plan of attack in mind. Ketsui raised an eyebrow as he saw the team making such a foolish move. He raised his right hand up as he made a sign.

"Wind Release: Mighty Gale", he said calmly as he began to inhale. Jiyu frowned when he heard this, and front-flipped into the air preparing to deliver an axe kick to Ketsui's head. Sakana held her katana's handle at her side and aimed the tip at Ketsui, hoping to impale him before the jutsu was released. Tsuyo quickly turned and took cover behind a target practice post. Ketsui exhaled, and a large continuous vacuum of wind erupted from his mouth. Just as Ketsui expected, both Jiyu and Sakana were caught by the vacuum and tossed back by about 30 feet, both of them rolling on the ground after landing. Sakana rammed the blade of her katana into the ground, which brought her to a quick stop as she regained her footing. She then quickly charged Ketsui again, bringing the sword out of the ground and positioning it it for a broad, horizontal slash. Jiyu, who had just recovered and gotten back onto his feet, looked up to find her going on the attack again. He noticed that Tsuyo was just watching Ketsui from behind the post. However, the look on his face wasn't one of fear, it was one of concentration; it's as if he were analyzing Ketsui.

Ketsui got into a stance as he awaited Sakana's assault. When she got close enough, she swung her katana horizontally, which Ketsui simply stepped back to avoid. She used the momentum of her swing to spin around and deliver an even faster horizontal swing towards Ketsui, this time being much closer than he expected. She then spun around using her momentum again, this time jumping and swinging diagonally attempting to slice Ketsui's neck. Ketusi's irises shrank when he realized what she was going for, and thrusted his palm upwards into her forearm, stopping her attack. She grinned when he did it though, and simply spun around in the opposite direction while shifting her grip on the handle into a backhanded position. She swung the blade in an upwards diagonal direction, this swing much faster than the last three; it came within inches of Ketsui's face. He gritted his teeth, impressed yet somewhat worried by her ferocity. She continued her assault in a similar manner with each swing, eventually forcing Ketsui to outright dodge everything by mere inches.

Jiyu was watching the fight, and was able to keep track of Sakana's movements with his byakugan. He was very surprised with her fluidity in kenjutsu, and was impressed by the speed of her attacks as well. Tsuyo, on the other hand, just watched and waited. He waited as if he were expecting something to happen.

_She's merciless, no doubt about that. Ketsui-sensei said to attack with the intent to kill, and she took it to heart. But...there has to be more to this than what I'm seeing..._ He noticed that the only direction Ketsui was moving was backwards just to avoid being sliced. He had his fists balled up as if he were waiting for a chance to counter-attack, but Sakana was too quick to reveal any sort of opening. In fact, they had gone so far down the training ground that Ketsui was about to back up into the chain-linked fence that separated the training grounds from a forest. _I see, so that's what your plan was, huh Sakana? Back him up into a corner, and then force him to yield? You're smarter than I thought! Still scary and I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck around you, but smart nonetheless._ He smiled a bit and came out from hiding with a kunai still in hand, and he rushed to where Sakana and Ketsui were headed. Jiyu saw him rushing out alone, and became slightly confused. He pursued, assuming his friend was about to do something rash.

Ketsui was so focused on dodging that he was shocked when his back made contact with the fence. In that very moment, Sakana held her katana's blade in front of his neck, a smug look on her face.

"Gotcha, sensei. I expected better", she remarked snidely.

Ketsui just looked at her with a stern face, his fists raised in a slightly defensive position. "This was your plan all along, huh? To corner me?", he calmly asked.

She nodded, clearly proud of her accomplishment. Tsuyo and Jiyu ran up to her, and Jiyu tensed up when he saw how close the sword was to Ketsui's neck. He made a fist and glared at Sakana. Ketsui noticed this, and smiled at Jiyu.

"Hey kiddo, relax. I told you to come at me with the intent to kill, right?" Jiyu looked over at him, still tense-looking. Ketsui turned his attention to Sakana while lowering his fists. "You got some real skill with a sword, no doubt about that. The way you use your momentum to attack faster is pretty impressive. Your pattern of attack was also pretty random, so I'm guessing that you improvise during combat? That takes a lot of focus", Ketsui said.

She nodded again, but became a bit confused when Ketsui's smile faded away.

"Too bad for you. You focused so much on your attacks that you payed no attention to what I was doing", he said as he opened up his fists. Small balls dropped from his hands; they were smoke bombs. They detonated after making contact with the floor, causing Sakana and Tsuyo to start coughing. Jiyu blinked a few times due to the smoke before he covered his mouth and began looking through the smoke cloud with his byakugan. He saw Ketsui sneak behind Sakana and rip the sword out of her grip. Ketsui flung it onto the grass behind all of them, which caused Sakana to start looking around and swinging her fists in random directions. She clearly couldn't see in all the smoke, since her attacks were very easy for Ketsui to evade. Jiyu looked at Tsuyo, who began shaking now that he was caught in the smoke. Jiyu frowned and rushed towards Ketsui with fists raised. He was able to sneak up on his father, and delivered a right hook to his father's side. He grinned, but that quickly disappeared when his father simply became water that splashed all over Jiyu.

"A water clone? When?", he thought out loud.

"Wind Release: Mighty Gale!", shouted Ketsui from on top of the chain-linked fence. Exhaling, he forced all three genin down onto the ground with the air pressure from the jutsu as well as cleared the smoke out of the area. When he stopped, the three looked up at him. Jiyu stared at his father carefully, waiting to see if he would make another quick move. Tsuyo got off of the grassy ground and wiped the dirt from his hoodie, a discouraged look on his face. Sakana simply turned around and ran to her sword.

"Rule one of combat: never underestimate the enemy", Ketsui said harshly to all three. "I made a water clone as soon as those smoke bombs detonated, and hopped up he-", he stopped and looked up. Sakana had lunged towards him again, anger resonating within her eyes as she prepared for a backhanded slash. Ketsui sighed and ducked to oncoming horizontal slash, and then grabbed her arm and flung her down onto the ground near the other two genin. "Rule two of combat: never over-estimate your own abilities. Know the drawbacks to your techniques and remember what your limits are. Don't think that you're unstoppable just 'cause you beat up a few classmates."

Sakana got up quickly and retrieved her blade, growling quietly. Ketsui grinned yet again, and tapped his wrist. "Time's-a-wastin'. You're only gonna get me if you work together."

Sakana looked disgusted at the mention of teamwork, glaring at both Jiyu and Tsuyo. "Yeah right, these two are only going to get in my way!", she exclaimed furiously at her sensei.

He laughed at this. "Oh yeah? So what exactly happened a few seconds ago, huh?", he asked.

Sakana grew a tick mark. "WELL I JUST WASN'T THINKING STRAIGHT, THAT'S ALL!", she shouted psychotically, causing Jiyu to sweat-drop.

Ketsui shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself. "You're only as good as your team, and that's just how the game goes. You wanna be at the top of your game? Then you gotta work with your team", he said as he looked at the forest behind him.

The three of them froze up, all thinking the same thing. _Oh please, PLEASE don't go into the forest! It'll take FOREVER to find you in there! _

Ketsui looked back at the three, and scratched his beard. "Remember, time's-a-wastin'." He then jumped backwards and disappeared into the forest.

"OH COME ON", Jiyu and Sakana shouted at the same time as they pursued their sensei. Tsuyo was about to speak up, but didn't even get a word in. He sighed and jumped over the fence, running into the forest nervously.

Jiyu was right on top of Ketsui's trail, thanks to the byakugan letting him see through the trees. He was actually attacking his father whenever he was close enough to strike, usually trading blows while in midair between jumps. Ketsui would either block or dodge each attack, though he preferred dodging. Whenever he blocked with his arm or leg, then that very same body part would become extremely sore on the inside after contact.

"So, trying to use the gentle fist on me while in pursuit? That's a bit difficult, kiddo!", laughed Ketsui and he was leaping backwards through the trees. Jiyu didn't respond, he just charged at his father and focused on keeping up his assault. He thrusted his left elbow towards Ketsui, who responded by simply stepping to the left and throwing a punch at Jiyu's chest. The genin quickly rose his left forearm and redirected the punch away from himself. He then followed up by attempting a quick uppercut with his right arm. Ketsui, who was actually paying attention to his surroundings, allowed himself to fall onto some lower branches as he continued bounding through the trees. Jiyu was aware of his father's position, and leapt towards him while doing a front flip; he was attempting an axe kick. Ketsui turned his head at the last second to see what his son was attempting, and simply leapt back up to the higher branches. Jiyu's kick hit a branch, which caused him to lose his footing and flip backwards, ultimately slamming into the ground below. He landed roughly on his upper back, and grimaced in pain. He laid there for a minute, staring at the leaves that filtered sunlight down into the little area he was in. From what he could see with his byakugan's range of vision, he was in a small grove-like area. He shut his eyes and winced in pain as he slowly stood up. His legs were shaking, and his eyes felt slightly strained. He was also breathing heavily due to the long time he had been chasing Ketsui. He glanced up, and saw someone's chakra getting closer. He already knew who's it was.

Ketsui landed on a branch and stood there with his arms crossed. "Didn't I say somethin' about teamwork? Why are you out here by yourself? I thought you'd have listened to me back there", he said.

Jiyu slowed his breathing down gradually, and just looked at his father. "Well, I came close to beating you whenever we trained, right? This ain't much different", he said as he attempted to straighten his back.

Ketsui could see Jiyu wincing from the pain, and shook his head slightly. "That was different, y'know. I never bothered to use jutsu against you when we trained. Just because you have more talent than the enemy in taijutsu doesn't mean that they will let you use it", Ketsui said.

The two stared at each other, and Jiyu quickly began forming hand signs. Ketsui simply made a one-handed sign in response, knowing what was coming. "Wind Release: Mighty Gale!", they both shouted as they launched the jutsu into each other. The roar of the wind was extremely loud and caused birds in nearby trees to fly away. Leaves began blowing everywhere as the two maintained their jutsu. Jiyu felt his chakra draining quickly; he was not used to dragging out this technique for longer than a few seconds. Ketsui, on the other hand, was just gauging the prowess of Jiyu's ninjutsu. He put more chakra into his technique and quickly overpowered Jiyu's Mighty Gale. Jiyu was forced down the the ground as his jutsu dispersed, which lead Ketsui to cancel his own Mighty Gale. The boy layed there, finding himself staring up at the tree leaves yet again.

Ketsui sighed slightly, and jumped down to where Jiyu was. The genin looked worn out. Ketsui knelt down beside him and looked Jiyu in the eye, a dissapointed look on his face. "I thought I raised you to be more clever than this. Havn't you learned anything?"

Jiyu wearily stared at his father, his byakugan deactivating. "Yeah...I picked up a thing or two", he said...and then a sly grin appeared on his face. Before Ketsui could even consider that that grin meant, he was roughly kicked in the back and set forward by a few feet until he hit a tree. Ketsui quickly got up and turned around in a defensive pose; another Jiyu was standing beside the tired one. This Jiyu was lowering the leg he used to deliver the attack, and had his byakugan active. The Jiyu that was on the ground became water, and splashed into the ground. "Didn't you just say to Sakana that you should never underestimate your enemy's skills?", he said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Ketsui paused for a moment, waiting for the tingling, slightly painful feeling in his back to disappear. He laughed quietly to himself. "Yeah...yeah I did...not bad ki-", he paused as he looked up to see an angry Sakana jumping down from a tree, the weapon ready to slice him in two. He quickly responded by leaping towards her, grabbing her forearms and flinging her into Jiyu. Jiyu put out his arms to catch her, only for her elbow to accidentally make contact with his face as the two fell to the ground. Ketsui took the opportunity to vanish into thin air.

Sakana angrily lifted herself off of Jiyu, pushing his face into the grass and dirt without realizing. She got her blade ready and looked around for her sensei. _No sign of him...he got away again. _She snarled quietly and sheathed her blade while Jiyu lifted himself off of the ground and spit out a few blades of grass. Sakana just crossed her arms and glared at her teammate. "Great job, loser. You let him get away", she said through gritted teeth.

Jiyu was stunned to hear that she blamed HIM for this, and grew a tick mark. He got up in her face and raised a fist. "ARE YOU KIDDIN' ME? I HAD HIM RIGHT WHERE I WANTED HIM 'TILL YOU CAME AND SCREWED EVERYTHING UP", he shouted.

"OH, SO IT'S MY FAULT? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAY?"

"YEAH!"

**"YEAH?"**

**"YEAH!"**

She growled and tackled him, and the two began rumbling and tumbling all over the area.

Tsuyo was slowly and silently making his way through the forest, shaking slightly and constantly looking for his allies. He still had a kunai drawn, just in case he confronted Ketsui. Occasionally he would call out Jiyu's name, but never Sakana. He was afraid of her, and certainly did not want to be stuck with her alone. She just made him feel so...what's the word...apprehensive? It was the way she talked and looked at people, the way she would behave, the way she smiled. She was very dangerous, and Tsuyo didn't trust her at all. Then again, was there really anything he could do about it? Not really, considering that the two are officially stuck together in a team. Why couldn't he have been put into a team with Tenshi? She was kind, friendly, sweet...yeah, he'd like to be in her team. He suddenly remembered the small confrontation between Tenshi and Sakana, and bit his lip. If Jiyu didn't persuade Tenshi to sit elsewhere, things may have been different. Tsuyo would have been a lot more happy, that's for sure. Tsuyo's train of thought was suddenly derailed when he heard slow, heavy footsteps on the grass ahead of him. He quickly took cover behind a tree and clutched the handle of his kunai. He glanced down at the weapon to see that he was trembling horribly, barely able to maintain a fair grip. He began to sweat, and gulped in fear. _Oh no, no no no no no! I have to face Ketsui-Sensei all myself? I'm so screwed, what do I do? Should I run or fight? _He shut his eyes tight and bowed his head, trying to keep himself calm.

"Ts-Tsuyo...run...", he heard a voice say.

_Wait a minute, that's Jiyu's voice! _ Tsuyo quickly came out from behind the tree, and instantly became pale at the sight before him. Jiyu was riddled full of holes, each one leaking a large amount of blood. The holes went through his body, as if a sword had been driven through him multiple times. His clothes were soaked in his blood, and he looked like he was barely standing up. He raised a trembling arm out towards Tsuyo, who was paralyzed with fear.

"R-run...Sakana's gone...", was all Jiyu managed to say before falling forward onto the ground. He became motionless. Tsuyo quickly ran over and checked Jiyu's pulse, which was quickly becoming faint. There were more footsteps up ahead, and he slowly looked up to see another horrifying sight. Sakana was standing there, her sword drawn and dripping with fresh blood. Her psychotic, toothy smile stretched from ear to ear on her face, and she stared at Tsuyo. He quickly stood up and took a step back, his teeth beginning to chatter as she came closer. She raised her sword and let out a small chuckle.

"You're next, nerd", she said cynically. Tsuyo became even more pale, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Without uttering a word, he fainted and fell onto his back.

Ketsui, who was hiding up in a branch during all of this, sighed and cancelled the genjutsu he had cast on Tsuyo. _I thought this kid was supposed to be talented in genjutsu. You'd think that he would know when a minor one was cast on him. _He stared at the unconscious genin and held his chin. _Man, I thought this would be more difficult. Looks like I'm gonna have some serious work to do with this one. _Ketsui stood, and quickly jumped up to the top of the tree. He could see that the sun was already setting, which caused him to rub the back of his head. He couldn't believe that so much time had passed since he began the test, and the team had yet to work together. He began leaping across the trees and stopped at the edge of the forest opposite to that of the training field. There was a large lake that stretched a relatively far distance from the forest, a few fisherman boats tied to docks in the distance. Ketsui looked around for any sign of his students, and it appeared that he was in the clear. He grinned a little and sat on the grass as he layed his back against a tree. He put his hands behind his back and shut his eyes as he began to wait for his students yet again.

Sakana and Jiyu were still in the small grove, and were breathing heavily. Both were bruised up and had their fists raised as they stared each other down. Jiyu glanced up at the leaves above them, and noticed the color of the sunlight that filtered down through them. He then looked around and noticed that the forest seemed slightly darker than before. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, causing a tick mark to appear on Sakana's forehead.

"HEY, DON'T YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST GIVE UP RIGHT NOW! WE STILL HAVE TO FINISH THIS!", she shouted at him.

Jiyu looked up at her, and gave her a face that had 'are you stupid or something' written all over it. "Look how much time we wasted screwin' around here! We gotta find Tsuyo so we can all take down Ketsui, and fast", he said with a hint of anger in his voice.

She maintained her frown, but dropped her fists and exhaled slowly. "You and that geek are holding me back. I can take down our sensei myself", she said as she began to walk past him. However, she stopped when she felt Jiyu grab her forearm tightly. She snapped her head in his direction instantly, glaring. He stared into her bloodthirsty eyes, unphased by their petrifying gaze.

"Look, we're a team whether you like it or not. We ain't gonna pass this thing if you don't work with me. We will ONLY move forward if we act like a team. Trust me on this, alright?", he said calmly as he released his grip. He was expecting her to say something rash, but was relieved to see her frown ease up slightly as she replied with a "fine, whatever."

The two began making their way through the forest as Jiyu used the byakugan to look for Tsuyo. "So...you make weapons, huh? That's cool", Jiyu said in a friendly way while glancing around.

Sakana just went "mmmm" to answer him, clearly not the type for small talk.

"I noticed earlier that your sword looked brand new. Did you make it?", he asked.

"Mmmm", she said again.

Jiyu sweat-dropped at the lack of words coming out of her. "Don't you say anything besides 'mmmm'?", he asked slightly annoyed.

"Mm-hmm", she replied with a grin, causing Jiyu to sigh.

Again, they walked in silence. They stayed silent for about ten minutes before she spoke up. "Yeah, I made my own sword. I refuse to fight with a weapon that I didn't make", she said bluntly. Jiyu was suprised to hear her speak, but decided not to make a remark about it. Instead, he just glanced over at her with a curious expression.

"Why's that?", he asked.

She kept looking ahead, arms crossed as she walked. "When I make a weapon, I know everything about it: it's durability, it's weight, how well I can handle it, how deep it cuts, how fast I can swing it, everything. I'd rather know everything right from the start instead of learning as I go along."

Jiyu smirked a bit. "Well, looks like there's more to you than meets the eye. Here I thought you were just some blood-thristy psychopath", he said jokingly.

She chuckled a bit, but in a manner which made him feel uneasy. "Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm very blood-thristy", she said as she gave him her freaky smile. "I just like to draw blood quickly and efficiently. That way I can always get the first kill in a battle to the death." Jiyu stared at her for a moment, then looked ahead and gulped slightly, causing Sakana to give off another disturbing laugh.

They walked in silence for another few minutes, and Jiyu quickly began to run ahead. He stopped and knelt down on the ground beside someone taking a nap, drool leaking out of one side of their mouth as they had their mouth wide open and snored like a large animal. Sakana, who was in no rush to catch up, walked over to find that this napping individual was Tsuyo. Jiyu sweat-dropped and began shaking his partner's shoulder. No response. Jiyu frowned and shook him harder, only getting a few mumbles out of Tsuyo before he rolled onto his side. Before Jiyu could say anything, Sakana knelt down on the other side of Tsuyo, and got real close to his face.

"GET UP YOU LAZY BASTARD", she shouted loud enough for all of water country to hear. Tsuyo leapt up onto his feet while screaming like a girl, and then slowly looked around to see Jiyu pinching the bridge of his nose and Sakana chuckling to herself. He turned slightly red and looked at his feet.

"H-how long was I asleep?", he asked shyly.

Jiyu just shrugged. "We just found you, and why were you asleep anyways? Did Ketsui knock you out or something?", he asked.

Tsuyo squinted his eyes as he thought about it, then remembered the embarrassing way he passed out. _That was a genjutsu? I fell for a genjutsu? Ohhhh, talk about embarrassing! Ketsui-sensei must have known how I felt about being around Sakana and used it to his advantage! I can't let them know about this! _Tsuyo cleared his throat and kept his head bowed. "Y-yeah. We had a small fight and he got hit me in a blind spot", he mumbled.

Sakana leaned in and examined him closely, which made Tsuyo's irises shrink slightly as he glanced over at her. He leaned slightly away from her, and she pulled away with a frown. "Liar. You have no bruises on you at all", she said bluntly. Tsuyo just stood there in silence as he tried to hide his embarrassment. Jiyu sighed and shook his head, sparing his friend the embarrassment of telling the truth.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. What DOES matter is the fact that Ketsui's out there and we still didn't take him down. We need to come up with some kind of plan", he said.

Sakana rested her arm on her sheathed weapon's handle as she began thinking. "What we know so far about Ketsui-sensei is that he's skilled in wind-style jutsu. He always uses it at a distance, and looks like a pretty defensive fighter. If I could get close, then I-", Sakana was cut off by Jiyu shaking his head.

"You can't get close to him, he knows how to counter your swordplay. He's done it a few times already, right?", he asked, making Sakana frown. She nodded slightly though, accepting the truth from Jiyu. "What he can't counter as well is my taijutsu. I could tell when me and him were fighting before, he tries to dodge my attacks whenever he can. He wants to avoid taking any type of hit, be it one that's blocked or not", he said before looking at Tsuyo and grinning. "That gentle fist stuff actually works alright if I use it with my own taijutsu", he said happily.

Tsuyo looked up at Jiyu, and seemed slightly suprised. "R-really? That's...that's actually very interesting...", he said as he held his chin. Sakana looked at Jiyu, and remembered when she had that small brawl with him in the grove. She reacted the same way that Ketsui had when fighting Jiyu: avoiding as many direct attacks from Jiyu as possible. She remembered that when Jiyu hit her in the arm as she blocked, her whole arm felt very sore on the inside, as if her muscles were strained.

"Do you know any ninjutsu?", Jiyu asked her.

"Only a few, one's for distance and the other's for mid-to-close range combat", she replied.

He nodded and looked at Tsuyo. "What can you do with genjutsu?", he asked.

Tsuyo, embarrassed now that he was put on the spot, cleared his throat and turned slightly red in the face as he looked down. "W-w-well...I can h-hide objects in plain sight", he managed to say.

Jiyu raised an eyebrow and lightly punched his friend on the arm, which made Tsuyo look over at him. "Y'know man, you gotta quit acting like that. We're a team, you don't have to be embarrassed about anything. You can hide people with genjutsu too, right? Didn't you do that to yourself during the final exam?", Jiyu asked.

"That was d-different! It's a lot easier to m-make myself disappear because then I don't have to concentrate that much. If I were to hide you, then I'd have to constantly focus all my chakra onto you for others to not see you. Plus, if you want me to let certain people see you, then that'll take even more focus", he said.

"But you could still do it, right?"

"Well...yeah, I guess I could...why?"

Jiyu smirked and brought his two comrads together into a huddle. "All right, here's what we'll do..."

It was night, and it began raining. Ketsui was still leaning against the tree, waiting for his students. He stood up and looked back at the deep forest. _Maybe they're lost. I should probably go back and-ah, what am I saying? This is all part of the exam, they should be able to find me if they're fit to pass. _He then heard some leaves in the brances above him rustling. He looked up to see Sakana leap off the branch which was right over his head and land on the river.

"Found you, sensei. Why'd you run so far away, hm?", she asked in a mocking tone.

Ketsui grinned at her and was about to talk, but stopped when he saw her begin to weave hand signs. "Water Release: Piercing Stream!", she shouted before forming a small "o" shape with her lips and spitting out a skinny stream of water at Ketsui. He jumped up over it just in time, and looked back to see how deadly the jutsu was. The stream of water had enough pressure to slice through the tree trunk that was behind him a moment ago, effectively bringing down the whole tree. She maintained her jutsu and began redirecting it to him while he was in midair. Acting quickly, he turned around and made a one-handed sign. he preformed the Mighty Gale and used the wind pressure from his own jutsu in order to evade Sakana's stream faster.

_She must have lots of chakra in order to pull off a jutsu like that...heh...'course she does, she's a Hoshigaki. They naturally have large chakra reserves. On top of that, they gain chakra whenever they're near a water source. Maybe sitting by the lake wasn't such a great idea. _Ketsui reached into his pouch and threw two kunai at her. She cancelled the jutsu and drew her sword, and was able to deflect the two kunai with a single, one-handed swing. Ketsui landed on the water and threw some smoke bombs towards Sakana. She growled at the sight of them, remembering the dirty trick he pulled earlier in the day with them. She sliced each of them in half, detonating them and getting in a defensive position. Ketsui appeared behind her and put her in a headlock with his left arm, and grabbed the handle of her sword with his right hand. "Still cocky, huh? Didn't you learn anything?", Ketsui said. Sakana used her free hand to pry Ketsui's left arm off of her, and ripped the sword's handle out of his grip. Ketsui got in a defensive position just in time to block a slightly chakra-enhanced front kick, which pushed him back a good few feet. The smoke was carried away by a small breeze, and Ketsui looked up to see Sakana slowly walking towards him, clutching her sword in her hand and smugly grinning. Ketsui raised an eyebrow. _Still coming at me with direct attacks? Maybe that jutsu took more chakra out of her than she thought it would. _Ketsui stood still, and waited for her to make a move.

What he did NOT expect, though, was to get punched in the face by nothing. He felt the impact of a fist against his face, and felt light-headed all of a sudden. More blows began to pummel his body, and no matter how he positioned himself, he kept getting hit. His body began to feel sore everywhere he got hit, and that's when he figured it out. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. He saw Jiyu appear right before his eyes, and got hit in the jaw with an uppercut. His whole body went numb from the hit, and he stumbled backwards trying to maintain his footing. The 'gentle fist' strike to the chakra network in his brain had momentarily disrupted the chakra flow, causing him to feel slightly disoriented and a bit sick. After about three seconds, he felt normal...until he got hit by a second uppercut. This time when he stumbled backwards, he felt himself walk into something: a tree. Those uppercuts stunned him more than he realized, he had stumbled all the way back onto land. Before he realized what was happening, he saw Sakana standing with her blade's tip at his neck. Jiyu was standing to the right with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face as his byakugan deactivated, and Tsuyo appeared out of thin air to the left, his hands forming the tiger sign. He looked much more relaxed than he did a while ago, probably because things had gone exactly as planned.

Ketsui stared at the three genin, completely bewildered. "How do that? Was that genjutsu?", he asked. Tsuyo's arms fell to his sides as he looked at his sensei, a cool and calm expression on his face for once.

"Yes, I hid Jiyu in genjutsu. Originally, I had planned on hiding both Sakana and Jiyu. However, my genjutsu skills are not the greatest as of now. The easiest way for me to trigger genjutsu in opponents is through sound", he said as he proceeded to point up. Ketsui looked up to see that Tsuyo was pointing at a tree branch. He frowned, remembering when he heard the branch shake. "So, we changed our plan slightly. In order for my genjutsu to work, I would have to trigger a noise nearby for you to hear. However, doing so would have either alerted you of our presence, or even let you find us right away. So we decided that Sakana would leap off the branch that I used to trigger the genjutsu. She would divert your attention while I hid Jiyu with genjutsu, and he would wait until Sakana left you open for a surprise attack. With his gentle fist technique, you would have easily been stunned long enough for us to pin you down or against a tree."

Ketsui stared at them all, amazed that they worked together to formulate such a plan.

Tsuyo adjusted his glasses and smirked. "Checkmate, sensei", he said confidently.

Ketsui smiled and laughed quietly as he pushed Sakana's blade away with his finger. "Outstanding job, all of you! You all pass!", he said proudly. Sakana sheathed her sword and crossed her arms, grinning with satisfaction. Tsuyo pulled his hood back and let out a deep breath, relieved that it was over and he had passed. Jiyu put his hands in his pockets and gave Ketsui the smile he was known for having.

"Alright you three. Go home and get some rest. Tomorrow is the day where you start your first mission!", Ketsui said. Sakana and Tsuyo nodded, leaping into the woods. Jiyu was about to pursue, but Ketsui put his hand on the boy's shoulder. Jiyu looked at him, confused. "We can walk back together, right kiddo?", he said in a warm, fatherly tone.

Jiyu looked at him, and nervously smiled. "O-Oh? Yeah, I guess...", he said. There was an awkward silence between the two, the only sound present being the rain as it slowly became heavier.

"What's wrong, kiddo?", Ketsui asked. Jiyu just shrugged, looking away. Ketsui stared at his son, and then sighed as he began walking. "C'mon then, let's head home", he called out while leaving.

"I'll be home a little later. I wanna just...stick around here for a while", Jiyu said.

Ketsui turned to face his son. "Alright, but don't stay out here too long", he said before vanishing.

Jiyu activated his byakugan and stared out onto the lake. He watched as the world became a mix of blacks, greys and occasionally whites, and observed as the lake's surface was bombarded by rain drops. The surface of the lake was so calm, so serene before the storm. Now look at it...it's helpless, unable to defend it's purity from the sorrowful tears of mother nature. Unable to maintain a peaceful front when the truth weighs heavier down on it with each passing minute. The lake must feel sad, having to endure so many tears, such impurity. Does the lake know what it even is anymore? Maybe the lake was once a river, yet became a lake due to all the rain. It gave in and let itself become one with it's impurity, thus turning it into the behemoth body of water that it is today. Does it yearn to become an ocean one day? Does it look forward to turning it's impurity into something grand? Something to make it's presence known throughout the world? Maybe. Jiyu leaned against the tree trunk which Ketsui was pinned against, and just watched the rain fall endlessly from the dark, cloudy sky.

To take the natural, and use it to become something grand. If that was what the lake yearned for, then maybe it had more in common with Jiyu than it realized. However, such a transition takes time. Until then, they would both have to endure all the negativity that came with being impure. Until then, they would just have to make do with what they had, and hope that tomorrow brought them one step closer to achieving greatness. Jiyu smirked and adjusted his forehead protector. Tomorrow was so close, yet seemed so far away.


	9. Mission Start: Hidden Smoke Village

**A/N: What, nobody wanted to be a part of the contest from last chapter? I am disappoint. It's all good, though! I'll think of something regardless, and I'm already getting a few ideas. ANYWAYS, this is the beginning of the team one's first REAL adventure! Also, I MIGHT just put a byakugan upgrade in here later on, I'm not sure yet. I hope you enjoy reading this, and please leave a review to tell me what you think! Thanks for reading, and enjoy! :)**

It has been six months since team one had completed their first mission...as well as their second, third, and fourth missions. In fact, team one has already completed around 50 missions by themselves. However, it is not as grand of an achievement as one might think. In fact, right after turning in the results for their latest mission, a certain member of team one had a complaint about their 'achievement'...

Sakana slammed her hands down on the mizukage's desk, fire shooting from her eyes. "LADY MIZUKAGE, I DON'T CARE IF SOMEONE NEEDS AN EXTRA HAND WITH CHORES OR IF SOMEONE LOST THEIR DAMN CAT! I WANT A REAL MISSION, **NOT ANOTHER D-RANKED TIME-WASTER!**", she bellowed at the top of her lungs. Jiyu, Ketsui and Tsuyo were all behind her, staring with shrunken irises and sweat-dropping. "WE'RE READY FOR AT LEAST A C-RANK MISSION, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?", she continued.

The Mizukage, Mei, simply stared at Sakana and leaned back in her chair and let out a quiet sigh.

"Sakana, I know that team one thinks they are ready for combat but...", she paused and looked up at Ketsui, "...you don't know what kind of dangers a shinobi must face, even in times of peace. I'm sorry, it's just too soon."

Sakana huffed and crossed her arms as she turned around to look at the team leader. "Ketsui-sensei, do you think we're not ready for AT LEAST a C-rank mission yet? How much longer do we have to wait, huh?", she asked. She sounded like a child asking to go to an amusement park for the first time, which made Ketsui pinch the bridge of his nose. He moaned quietly to himself as he looked at the three genin.

"Give me a minute with the Mizukage, alright? Just wait outside", he said calmly. Sakana stared at him for a moment in confusion, but knew by now that Ketsui usually knew what he was doing when he made an order. She complied and left the office, Jiyu and Tsuyo following her. Ketsui waited until he heard the door close, and then rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Heh heh...ehhhh...sorry about that, ma'am", he said nervously to his superior.

She just gave him a warm smile. "Oh, stop calling me that. I've told you before that I'm alright with you calling me Mei."

Mei knew Ketsui pretty well, mostly because he was one of the best jounin in the village who never disappointed her when given a mission. He was very patient, friendly, calm, and a fine leader when he needed to be. A strong-willed individual who would lay down his life for his comrads, that's who he was. Not to mention that he had earned quite the reputation for his 'special talent' during the war. A pity he was married, she would have gladly taken him as a husband.

He cleared his throat and gave her a smile. "O-of course, Lady Mei", he said.

She folded her hands and placed them on her desk as she leaned forward, ready to talk business. "So, why did you ask your team to stand outside? Are you going to try persuading me into letting them go on a C-rank mission?", she asked.

He scratched his beard as he stared at the ceiling. "Well yeah. I can say with about 95% certainty that the three are ready for some real missions. They've all dedicated the past six months to improving their own skills just so they'd be ready for something higher-ranked.", he said.

She tilted her head slightly, now interested. "Why only 95%, Ketsui?", she asked him.

He let out a small chuckle as he looked back down at her. "Well, it's just that they've been real eager to do a mission with actual danger being possible. That might make 'em not think so clearly if we DO come across anything dangerous, but I somewhat doubt it." She nodded, and gestured for him to continue with what he was originally saying. "I've spent some time with each of them individually, training them so they'd be ready to handle a number of problems. Tsuyo's improved his genjutsu skills vastly, not to mention he's got some crazy-good accuracy with projectiles. Sakana's kenjutsu and ninjutsu abilities have improved, too. She's become slightly more defensive in her attack, which used to be full of openings. She's even forged herself a new katana which she refuses to talk about. Jiyu's developed his own style of taijutsu that he calls 'rogue fist', and he's gotten really good with it. It's simple, but effective."

Mei suddenly looked slightly worried, which caught Ketsui's attention rather quickly. He wanted to pretend like he didn't know what the issue was, but it was pretty obvious to him. "You're making that face because of Jiyu, huh...", he asked.

She glanced down at her desk, avoiding eye contact with Ketsui. "Jiyu has been using his byakugan a lot, hasn't he...", she asked quietly. He stayed silent, confirming her thoughts. "I see...I thought I told you to keep him from using the byakugan, Ketsui. Isn't that the main condition on which I allowed Jiyu to attend the academy, and even graduate after his...discovery?", she asked. Ketsui was still silent. "I know you want him to be the absolute best that he can be, but we've been through this already. If he uses the byakugan at all, even in the village, he's putting himself at risk."

Ketsui frowned slightly as she continued. "You don't know much in the ways of politics. This alliance between all five nations is something we used to only dream of. Now that it's here, I'm risking the trustworthiness of this village, this country, by harboring someone that doesn't belong here. If anyone on the outside were to find out about a child with a black byakugan, then that child would definitely be put into the bingo books for their eyes. If that were to happen, then we would have two major threats to look forward to: mercinaries looking to capture the child, or the Hyuuga finding out. The mercinaries are easy to deal with, we can protect Jiyu from a few mere thugs. However, if the Hyuuga find out, they will demand custody over the lost member of their own clan. It's something that is out of the Hokage's hands, it's a matter of family-related business. If I were to refuse, then the Hokage would have to get involved. In the end, I can only protect him for so long until the situation becomes one giant mess."

Ketsui glanced down slightly, his eyelids lowering as he thought about the whole situation. "That is the main reason why I kept team one from leaving the village and gave them D-ranked missions. I know it's unfair, and I also know that it can't last forever. I just want to make sure that Jiyu is able to do whatever needs to be done without relying on his doujutsu. You understand, don't you?", she asked him.

Ketsui was silent, and felt horrible on the inside. Jiyu himself believes that he's been blessed with the byakugan, and he's not even allowed to use it. Ketsui gritted his teeth slightly. "Lady Mei...I'm sorry, but...", he paused as he looked up at her slowly, trying hard to keep a grip on his emotions. "But he is MY son. I don't care about the politics behind it all, and I don't care about the Hyuuga. He's come so far, and he's determined to show the world what he can do. If he used his byakugan outside of the village and you managed to get in trouble, then I'll take any punishment that goes your way. But you can't just keep Jiyu from reaching his full potential. That boy has a goal, and he'll die trying to reach it...and I'll help him every step of the way."

Mei stayed silent, contemplating what she had just heard. _You are willing to go that far for Jiyu, are you Ketsui? It seems like you haven't changed much over the past few years. _She slowly grinned and leaned back in her chair. "Well...I suppose that if there WAS an issue, I might be able to talk to the Hokage about all of this. After all, he is quite understanding when it comes to achieving goals."

Ketsui smiled when he heard this, and the Mizukage opened a drawer under her desk. She pulled out a large blue book and opened it as she began flipping through pages. She stopped at one page and stared at it, then glanced up at Ketsui. "A few days ago, the Kazekage requested a few documents from us, and top-secret ones at that. Considering that all nations are friendly with each other now, any secrets we've kept in the dark are now coming into the light. Because of the important nature of this delivery, it's best to send some shinobi to deliver the documents personally. There is always the threat of a few bandits attempting to steal these documents and sell them for a high price. This is a C-rank mission. Any questions?", she asked smiling. Ketsui simply shook his head, his smile still very prominent. "Very good. Now, come back here in one hour to pick up the package. After that, team one is to escort the package to the Hidden Smoke Village in wind country", she said. He nodded, and left the office.

One hour later, team one was standing in one of Water Country's many boating docks as they waited for their sensei. It was cold, the sky was cloudy, and the mist in the air was very thick; a not-so-pleasant day to be outside, which meant that the team was the only group of people presently on the bridge. Tsuyo was wearing a brand new tan vest under his open hoodie; it had four large cargo pockets on the front, and an extra one on each side. It was a gift from Tenshi, so he had a small goofy grin on his slightly reddened face now that he finally had it on. He promptly stuffed the pockets with various ninja tools upon recieving it, and felt like he was ready for anything...but hopefully he wouldn't have to confront anybody. Jiyu now had bandages wrapped around his fists, which he gained after badly bruising his knuckles while practicing his rogue fist style. His mother had threatened him with his life if he ever took them off, so he was stuck with them until his wounds were healed. His eyes also felt somewhat strained due to overuse of the byakugan, so he found himself rubbing his eyes quite often. At first he assumed that he was going to unlock a new level to the byakugan, but soon realized that this pain was different from what he felt upon unlocking his doujutsu. Sakana was running her thumb along a new sheath she had created. The outside of the sheath was covered in black velvet and some bandages, and was also about two feet longer than the sheath for her previous blade. It had a small strap on one side, so this sheath was meant to be slung over the shoulder much like a rifle. She claimed it was a katana, but what confused both Jiyu and Tsuyo was the fact that this sheath was straight rather than curved like a normal katana's blade.

Jiyu had his arms crossed and was staring out towards the vast ocean they were about to cross. He had never been outside of the Hidden Mist Village before, so he was slightly nervous about this mission. Sakana slung her sheathed weapon over her shoulder, the bottom of it just inches above the ground. "So where's Ketsui-sensei? I wanna get this thing started", she said impatiently.

Tsuyo adjusted his glasses as stopped inspecting his new vest, and could see that Sakana was slightly annoyed. "W-well, he had to p-pick up some documents. He'll b-be here soon", he said with a slightly trembling voice.

Sakana folded her arms and huffed as she looked around, then slowly stared at Tsuyo. "Do you have some kinda speech problem?", she asked him.

He looked at her a bit confused, and then looked away out of fear of the girl. "P-pardon?", he muttered.

She walked over to him until she was about a foot away from him, and she was somewhat glaring. Tsuyo could only look away for so long before her furious gaze caught his, which made him face her. He felt his knees begin to shake. _Please Jiyu, please get her away from me. I don't want to talk to her. PLEASE get her away from me! _

She squinted her eyes more as her frown grew deeper. "Hey, I asked you a question, four-eyes. An answer would be nice", she said sternly.

Tsuyo stared into her eyes, and glanced over at Jiyu looking for some help. Jiyu, who's attention was also grabbed by Sakana, just grinned at Tsuyo.

"Don't look at me, man. I can't speak for ya", he said hoping to get Tsuyo talking. _Geez, he's gotta stop waiting for me to play hero. He's gotta take care of his own problems sooner or later. _

The nervous genin looked back at Sakana, who was awaiting an answer. "W-well, I don't. I j-just get real nervous a-aro-", he managed to say before Sakana drove a finger into his chest, causing his eyes to shrink slightly.

"Look geek, you only managed to do one thing impressive during Ketsui-sensei's test, and that was AFTER you took a nap in the woods. If you act like this when we come across enemies and it gets someone hurt, then we'll have a problem. Do you understand?", she asked him with killing intent dripping from every word. He gulped loudly and quickly nodded, causing her to back off a bit.

Jiyu walked over to them both and looked at Tsuyo. "She's got a point, man. You can't act like that if we come across any real danger."

Sakana gave Jiyu a toothy grin, like she was bloodthirsty and excited. "WHEN...you mean WHEN we come across any real danger", she said in a freakish tone. Jiyu raised an eyebrow at her, attempting to keep a calm demeanor.

"...um, no. I meant what I said. There's no guarantee that we'll find bandits on our mission", he said.

Her grin only got slightly wider, and the corner of her mouth began to twitch. "Oh no, there WILL be blood. I can smell it...", she practically whispered to him. Before he could say anything to his psychotic partner, he got glomped from behind. He freaked out and quickly turned his head to see who his surprise attacker was...and his eyelids lowered when he saw that it was Tenshi.

"Ohhhh Jiyu, I'm so happy for you! You finally get to go on your first C-rank mission!", she said gleefully as she let go of him.

He turned to face her and scratched the back of his head, an embarrassed grin on his face. "O-oh, you heard about that?", he asked while completely forgetting WHERE Tsuyo got the vest from.

Tenshi's face was flushed as she began twirling her hair. "Of course I did, silly! I made a gift for Tsuyo but...well, I never DID give you anything, did I?", she said shyly, angling her head downward as she gazed into his eyes. He just kept his grin, though it was forced since he was not exactly in the mood to be around her today.

"Um...no, I don't think so", he said. Sakana watched the two curiously while Tsuyo was being consumed by envy.

Tenshi began twirling her hair faster as she got slightly more red in the face. "Well...I guess I'll just have to give you this, then...", she said quietly. She lightly grabbed Jiyu's jacket and pulled him in closer, and then planted a kiss on his cheek. Sakana's eyelids lowered, not exactly moved or disgusted by the scene. In fact, she just preferred that it didn't happen in front of her. Tsuyo's jaw practically hit the ground as he went slightly pale. He was dumbfounded, and began making quiet noises which caused Sakana to stare at him like he was an idiot.

Jiyu, to his surprise, found himself blushing a little. Tenshi gently pushed herself away from him, and couldn't help but giggle. "That was for good luck...come back safe, okay?", she cooed.

Jiyu felt his cheek for a second, staring at her. "S-sure...", he managed to say. Tenshi ran back into the village, clearly happy with her handiwork.

Jiyu just watched as she disappeared into the mist, his hand still on his cheek. _Did she...did she really just do that? I can't believe it...I mean, I knew she liked me and all but...wow. _Sakana made a 'tsk' noise, grabbing Jiyu's attention.

"Hey, next time go do that kinda stuff with your girlfriend BEFORE meeting up with us, hm?", she said.

Jiyu's face became slightly more red as an anger mark formed on his forehead. "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!", he shouted at her in a rather immature manner. She chuckled a bit at his embarrassment, which caused him to sigh and clear his throat. Jiyu glanced at Tsuyo, who was still in shock at what had happened. Jiyu stared at him, an eyelid slowly being raised on his face. "Um...Tsuyo? You alright, man?", he asked. Tsuyo just stood there with that dumbfounded look on his face, which made Jiyu tilt his head in confusion.

"Hey! You all ready?", a man shouted from behind the group. Jiyu and Sakana knew the voice well, and turned to face the man's general direction.

"We've BEEN ready! What took you so long?", Sakana shouted in an annoyed voice. Ketsui finally caught up to them, a large scroll slung onto his back. The thing looked like it weighed about 50 pounds, which sparked Jiyu's curiosity.

"Sorry 'bout that! The documents needed to be copied down onto the grand scroll here", Ketsui said as he patted the top of it. "They weren't finished when I got there, so I had to wait. Good to see that you all were patient enough to...", he stopped and looked at Tsuyo. "What's his problem?", he asked the other two. Jiyu shrugged in response, but Sakana grew a devilish smirk.

"Jiyu got a kiss from his girlfriend, that's why Tsuyo's like that", she said slyly.

Jiyu frowned and grew an anger mark again. "I SAID SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!", he shouted.

"Oh, who's this girl?" Ketsui asked.

Jiyu looked at him, and was clearly annoyed by the subject. "Tenshi. Tenshi Kyofu", he said. Ketsui smiled and laughed.

"Hey, she's a nice girl! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Jiyu was about to say something, but he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose instead. "Let's just go already", he mumbled.

Ketsui turned to look at Tsuyo. "Wake up Tsuyo, we're leaving for the hidden smoke village!", he said as he began walking towards one of the many rentable boats that floated beside the fishing docks. Jiyu followed closely behind his father, and Sakana followed them at a slight distance. Tsuyo snapped out of his stupor and looked around before spotting them leave. "H-HEY, WAIT!", he shouted as he ran after them.

The three genin were briefed about their mission as they sailed through the misty ocean waves which lead them farther and farther from home. The mission would take a whole week to complete; three days of travel to-and-from the village, and the seventh day would consist of the total number of hours they spent resting or taking a break. Ketsui had already picked out destinations for them to spend their nights at. These destinations were a few local towns that were spread around wind country, since they would be out of water country and through fire country in less than a day. It had been about four total hours of sailing, followed by about five hours of nonstop walking for team one once they reached land. They were eating rice balls for lunch while they continued walking, having packed lightly on snacks since most eating was to be done at their resting spots. Ketsui and Jiyu ate their food quietly, Sakana saved her food for later, and Tsuyo's stomach grumbled loudly after scarfing down his share.

_This stinks. I'm STILL hungry, my feet hurt, I have to go to the bathroom, I'm tired and sweaty, and Ketsui-sensei won't let us stop for a break. _He held his stomach and quivered as he walked, letting out a soft, quiet moan. While Jiyu and Ketsui ignored him (for the hundredth time, mind you), Sakana's eye twitched and she turned to face Tsuyo.

She grabbed him by the neck and shook him back and forth. "I SWEAR THAT IF YOU MAKE ONE MORE SOUND, I WILL END YOU! DO YOU HEAR ME!? EEEEEND YOOOOUUUU!", she roared at him before throwing him onto the ground. He landed on his rear and became pale as he began stammering.

"I-I-I-I cant help it! I'm j-j-j-just so hungry...ohhhhh..." He held his stomach as another grumble escaped from it.

Sakana crossed her arms and glared at him. "Pathetic", she said before turning and walking away from him. She COULD give him her rice ball, but why should she? He needed to learn how to do things properly, one of which was eating. She never got help when SHE had to learn things like that, so there was no reason for her to take pity on him. Jiyu turned and saw his friend sitting on the ground. Halfway through his own rice ball, he glanced down at it and back at his friend. He walked over, which caused Ketsui to stop walking and observe what was going on. Jiyu planted his uneaten half of the rice ball into Tsuyo's hand.

"Eat it slowly, you'll fill yourself up that way", he said. Tsuyo didn't even look up at his friend, he just did what he was told until he finished the food. He promptly got back up and began walking again, though his pace was sluggish at best. Ketsui watched Tsuyo walk, and began moving again.

"C'mon! We'll never make it there before sundown if we move at this pace!", the sensei called out to the team. Tsuyo sighed deeply as he tried to keep up with Ketsui, only to realize how he was going when Sakana walked right past him at a much faster pace. He sweat-dropped and attempted to go faster, but only found himself moving slower as he became more tired. Before he came to a complete stop, Jiyu walked up from behind and slung Tsuyo's arm over his shoulder and began helping him walk.

"C'mon, let's not keep them waiting", he said calmly as they began speeding up. Tsuyo stayed silent for a while, the entire time comparing himself to Jiyu. He was more than jealous, he was envious of him. He was brave, cool, tough, and got a kiss from Tenshi. Tsuyo was the exact opposite of Jiyu in those aspects, and he became depressed over such thoughts.

"You've been quiet for a while, man. What's up?"

Tsuyo snapped out of his train of thought when Jiyu's words reached him. The mist was completely gone, and they were moving across a grassy field. The setting sun illuminated the clouds with an orange light as it slowly began to make contact with the distant horizon. Jiyu looked at his friend, concerned. _What's gotten into him? He just seems so...lost. And why does he look so depressed? _

"Jiyu...d-do you like Tenshi?", he asked quietly. Jiyu stared at him, and could see that his friend was embarrassed to ask this question.

"Like her? Sure, I think she's alright. Why?", he asked.

Tsuyo shook his head in response. "N-no, I mean...do you LIKE like her...", he asked.

Jiyu paused for a moment, then remembered what happened between him and Tenshi on the bridge. At that moment, Jiyu couldn't help but laugh, which made Tsuyo both hopeful and nervous for an answer.

"Nooo, nothin' like that! She's cute and all, but she ain't my type! Was that the only thing troubling you?", Jiyu asked with a friendly grin. Tsuyo sighed in relief and bowed his head, feeling foolish for worrying over nothing.

"W-Well...it's just that I...like like her...and...when me and you are in the same room as her, she only l-looks at you...".

Jiyu fell silent as he looked up for a moment and began to think. "She'll figure out that I don't like her that way, just give her time. Besides, you should try to impress her if you want her to pay more attention to you", Jiyu said.

Tsuyo looked at him quizically. "How do I do that?"

"Well...uhh...I'm not sure...", Jiyu said as he began pondering this. He wasn't sure, he was no expert on the subject. However, maybe Sakana could help...after all, she WAS a girl. She was walking ahead of them by a few feet.

"Hey Sakana, how would a guy go about impressing a girl?", he asked her.

She turned her head slightly to look back at them, giving him a boorish glance. "Don't know, I haven't met a guy that's impressed me yet", she said as she looked forward again.

Jiyu and Tsuyo sweat-dropped and glanced at each other. "I guess you'll just have to figure it out yourself", Jiyu said. Tsuyo sighed and bowed his head, and the two were silent for the rest of the day.

When they finally stopped, it was around ten at night. They had arrived at a small town, the very one Ketsui had planned for them to stop at. They ate some food at the inn they were staying at as they casually talked about various things, one of them being Sakana's disappointment in the lack of bloodshed on the way to the village. They promptly went to bed afterwards, everyone going down a hallway to their own rooms.

It was about four in the morning, and Jiyu was awake. In fact, he had been awake for the past hour, just staring at the ceiling of his room. The room was entirely made of wood planks that had yet to be painted, much like many of the post-war houses and resorts. The bland design of his surroundings failed to capture his attention, which just made it easier for his thoughts to being wandering. A lot of things were on his mind, like Tenshi's 'gift' and Tsuyo's jealousy. Sure, Jiyu said that Tenshi wasn't his type, but then again, Jiyu never really did have a type. He never thought about relationships, he thought love was a waste of time and would only hold him back from reaching his full potential. So, if that was the case, why was he suddenly thinking about Tenshi all the time? Was it just because of that kiss? Was it something more? He had no clue, and frowned slightly the more he thought about it. He eventually decided to stop thinking about it all together and got out of his bed. He got dressed quickly and was about to leave his room...that is, until he heard something unusual outside of his room. He heard mumbling, and put his ear to the door.

"Is this the room where that mist shinobi's in?"

"I think so. How much were those documents worth?"

"500 a piece. We'll be rollin' in it when we're done with him!"

"Shhhh! Shut up, both of you. If he's asleep, I want him to stay that way."

"Yeah boss."

"Sorry boss."

Jiyu felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise up. _Bandits! Just like pa said! _Jiyu activated his byakugan and looked through the walls to see who the thieves were. From what he could see, it was just three thugs. He wasn't adept enough with the byakugan to see exactly who they were or if they wore forehead protectors. What he could see, however, was that one of them was fidgiting with something in front of him. No doubt, it was the lock to Ketsui's door. Without thinking, Jiyu flung open his own door and stepped out of his room, glaring at the three men with his byakugan active. They quickly snapped their attention to him, just staring at the boy and his strange eyes. The three men were fully covered up in loose black cloaks with only their eyes showing, which made them all look the same to Jiyu. There was dead silence between them, Jiyu's hands tightly balled into fists as he waited for them to make a move.

"Hey boss", said one of the men, "what's up with that kid's eyes?".

"Not sure, but it looks familiar. Where do I know those eyes from?"

The other man spoke up. "That's the byakugan boss. It's one of the three doujutsu."

"Oh yeah...that thing. Shouldn't his eyes be white, then?"

"Yeah...they should be...", he said as continued to stare at the boy.

Jiyu's frown grew deeper. "Forget about me, let's talk about you. What do you think you're doin', huh? You three plannin' on breakin' in there?"

One of the men laughed quietly. "Hey boss, check it out. He's shaking." Jiyu glanced down to find his knees shaking much like Tsuyo's would. His eyes shrank slightly as he looked back up at them, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to intimidate them if he was acting like this. He noticed that one of them was scribbling into a small book, and constantly glanced up at Jiyu and back down into the book.

"Say boss, how much do you think his eyes are worth?", the man with the book asked.

The man that kept being called 'boss' stared Jiyu down, and began walking towards him. To Jiyu's suprise, he found himself backing away from the man, scared.

"Considering that I've never heard of a byakugan being any other color other than white? This kid's eyes alone are worth a fortune."

He reached an arm out as he dashed towards Jiyu to grab him. Jiyu quickly threw a straight right punch into the man's face without thinking, which caused the man to become light headed. He grabbed his face, which had the pins-and-needles sensation crawling all over it. Jiyu noticed this, and took the opportunity to deliver a blow to the man's side with his left shin. The man, however, recovered quicker than expected, and countered by stopping the attack with his palm and punching Jiyu in the stomach with his free hand. The blow felt more painful than anything Jiyu had been hit with before, and he shut his eyes tight as the wind escaped him. Jiyu flew backwards down the hall and landed on his back, and found the man's foot on his chest before he was able to recover. The man was putting a lot of pressure on Jiyu's chest, which caused Jiyu to grab the man's foot and push. It did nothing except slightly agitate the man and make him push his foot down harder. Jiyu gritted his teeth and punched the man behind the knee of the leg which kept him pinned down, causing the man to lose control over his leg for a short moment. It was when Jiyu felt the pressure on his chest lift that he pushed again, this time making the man stumble back. The man quickly regained control over his leg as Jiyu pushed himself onto his feet and got into a stance.

"Annoying kid...", said the man. He looked back at the two lackeys who were with him. "Break down that door and take the damn scroll! Why do you fools think I brought you here for?", he said aggressively. The two men quickly turned to the side and kicked the door down, storming in while drawing weapons.

_No, pa! _Jiyu quickly dashed towards the door, but was stopped by a knee to his gut. Jiyu grabbed his mid-section as he fell to the ground, shaking in pain.

"Oh no, boy. You're not going anywhere...", said the man as he drew a kunai which appeared to be made of glass. Before he could do anything, though, a sword's blade shot through the wall, and came within inches of the man's face. He hopped back quickly and got in a defensive stance as the blade moved downwards, slicing the wall with ease.

Sakana burst through that very wall, her grip on the sword still firm as she landed in front of Jiyu. She was in her normal gear, so she clearly took her time getting ready beforehand. She looked at him and squinted her eyes, shaking her head. "I thought Hyuugas were tougher than that", she said as she turned to face the strange man. Her sword was indeed a straight katana, and it appeared to be made of ordinary steel even though it cut through the wall as if it were butter. One side of the sword's blade was a normal slicing edge while the other edge was serrated. She held the five-foot weapon easily in one hand, and pointed it at the strange man. "You know, it's really hard to sleep when idiots like you come barging into a place like this...perhaps I'll just cut you down right here and get right back to bed...", she said in a slightly crazy tone.

The man stared at her, unmoved by her threat. "Hm...a Hoshigaki. How interesting, I can see that your famed bloodlust is no myth. However, I hear that your kind are also quite rash and don't think very often in the midst of difficult situations...", he said calmly.

She chuckled slightly at his insult, and charged him at full speed. She began swinging the sword horizontally at an insanely high speed. The hallway was not wide enough to grant room for her attacks, so she ended up slicing through the walls while drawing the sword close to the man. The man was simply stepping back to avoid the slashes, and though it was not what Sakana planned, it gave Jiyu the chance to run into Ketsui's room. He stood up while grasping his gut, and dashed into the room. He only saw a large hole in the wall, nobody was in the room and the scroll was missing. He frowned, figuring that Ketsui lost the scroll and went to retrieve it from the two goons that were with the man.

The strange man had backed up into the wall at the end of the hallway, and drew the glass kunai just in time to block a fatal blow to the neck from Sakana. Surprisingly, the kunai was strong enough to completely stop Sakana's sword. The two locked blades, neither of them able to overpower the other. Her chakra-enhanced strength was enough to rival the man's, which amused him.

"You certainly are ferocious in battle, but it means naught. I'll be leaving with that scroll as well as the boy", he said bluntly.

Sakana's cocky grin became one of bloodlust and insanity, and quickly spun her sword around so that the serrated edge was now the one being pushed against the kunai. She brought the blade downwards, and the serrated edge sliced through the kunai and made contact with the strange man. _Just as planned! Who did this bastard think he was dealing with, anyways? _Sakana brought her blade completely through the man until it exited through his side. The man fell to the ground with a loud thump as he went limp and split into two parts, and Sakana took a step back to admire her handiwork. Jiyu ran out of the room just in time to see what she did, and ran over to her. He was dumbfounded by her achievement, just staring at her. She looked at him, and her bloodlust faded away. "You're pathetic. You couldn't even handle a guy as simple as that?", she asked as she gently brought her sword up and rested it on her shoulder. Jiyu frowned at her and looked at the body as his byakugan deactivated.

"Who is he?", he asked.

She gave a small chuckle. "He's dead, that's who he is. Another corpse that'll rot in the ground", she said.

Jiyu ignored her and walked to the body and pulled away the cloth to reveal the man's identity. His eyes were still wide open but held no life, he had a long scar going over his right eye and down the right side of his face. His black hair was cut very short, yet looked very dirty and unkempt; he had a beard which was equally as scruffy. His eyes were glassy, lifeless, like that of a doll's. Jiyu examined the man silently, then backed up when something freaky happened; the man's head began to shine as it became...transparent. Soon the man's skin began to change into glass as it formed cracks, and his whole body shattered into shards of glass that fell onto the ground.

Sakana's cocky look disappeared, and was replaced with an annoyed expression. Jiyu looked at her, neither of them knowing what to think. At that moment, Tsuyo walked out of his room and began looking around nervously. He was trembling worse than he ever had before, and looked at Jiyu. "I-is it over?", he whispered.

Sakana's eye twitched slightly upon hearing those words. _The coward hid when his genjutsu could have been useful?_ She punched him on top of the head, causing him to clutch it and moan in pain.

"Owwww! W-w-w-w-what was THAT for?", he asked in a whiney voice.

Sakana grabbed him by the shirt and shook him. "IDIOT, YOU HID WHEN YOU COULD HAVE HELPED?", she shouted.

Tsuyo began to panic just before Ketsui appeared next to them and separated the two. He sighed deeply and looked at all three. "Well...it's good to see that you all took care of things here...", he said as he began looking around at all the slash marks that Sakana made. "...wow, you REALLY took care of things. I can already hear my wallet cryin'..."

Jiyu walked over to his father, a concerned look on him. "Pa, what happened? Where's the scroll?", he asked.

Ketsui frowned slightly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a forehead protector and held it out, drawing in the attention of the three genin as they all looked at it. The pattern on it appeared to be a cloud with two slightly angled lines coming out of the bottom. The plate had some blood on it, no doubt from Ketsui's scuffle.

"It's a forehead protector for ninja of the Hidden Smoke. I pulled it off of one of the bastards who tried to take the scroll", he said.

Tsuyo looked at his sensei with concern. "B-but where's the scroll?", he asked.

Ketsui put the forehead protector away and looked at the shattered glass at the end of the hall. "You all dealt with a clone, a glass clone. The real one appeared, grabbed the scroll and disappeared with it. If these fools are from the hidden smoke village, then that just means we'll have to get there sooner and catch 'em."

Ketsui suddenly stopped talking and, as he looked down at the forehead protector he held, suddenly became conflicted. _What do you mean 'we'll' catch 'em, Ketsui? This isn't war, these are just genin who have the bad luck of bein' at the wrong place at the wrong time... _Ketsui's eyes glanced up as they scanned each of the genin to see that all of them, even Tsuyo to some extent, looked ready to pursue the glass shinobi. Ketsui's brow furrowed as he began to think dangerously. _Well...their teamwork is fair impressive, plus I'll be there to help them. In fact, I doubt that they'll need to lift a finger. I do have 'that', anyways. The enemy shouldn't be that much of a problem...though there is enough danger for this mission to be...mmm...the Mizukage won't like this one bit, but whatever. We're losing our chance to pursue by standing here._

He finally looked at the genin with a serious expression. "With that scroll gone, our mission objective changes. Handing the scroll over to the Hidden Sand is now secondary. Our primary objective is now to retrieve the scroll by any means necessary. Considering the fact that this man appears to have some sort of kekkei genkai as well as underlings willing to die for him, this mission just became S-ranked. Any objections to helping me take care of this?" The three genin stayed silent. Jiyu made a fist, Sakana sheathed her weapon, and Tsuyo took a deep breath as he attempted to keep his nerves calm. "Remember, this is an S-rank mission now. Teamwork and communication are going to be our biggest assets, and I cant garuntee that I'll always be there to protect you three. You guys have to watch out for each other in the event that we get into more trouble than we can handle. Make sure to think before you act, and utilize your specialties wisely. Don't try to be a hero and go down swinging, alright?"

The three genin nodded, and Ketsui looked behind them down the hallway that was riddled with slashes all over the walls. "Good...now let me go and pay for all the damage here. Once I do that, we're off to get that scroll back."

Jiyu wanted to say something to his father, something about what the man said. About his eyes. Deep down, Jiyu felt scared. That man WANTS his eyes, and Jiyu already knew that he would not be able to defend himself from the man if he was alone. He felt like he was in more danger than anyone else in the group, and wanted to warn Ketsui about it. However, they already had enough problems to worry about. Whoever this glass guy was, he had best be ready. Jiyu frowned slightly as his team began leaving the hallway. He followed from behind, feeling his fists ball up tighter.

If he was going to lose his eyes to that freak, then it'd have to be when his body was cold and dead...


	10. Senshoku Hira of the Stained Glass

**A/N: FINALLY, THE TENTH CHAPTER! *confetti* This chapter took a bit longer than I wanted because I had to think about what I wanted to actually happen, as well as plan for future events in this "arc". Thankfully, it's done! Also, a huge thanks to breezy94 and MangekyoMarie for their kekkei genkai ideas! I do plan on using your ideas later on when I introduce more characters, so I hope you are looking forward to it. Anywho, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please remember to favorite/follow if you are enjoying the story so far! Thank you! :)**

**UPDATE: I recently came across some AWESOME website that lists a large number of theoretical kekkei genkai AS WELL AS kekkei touta. I know I cant like stuff, but here's the web address:**

** /wiki/User:Omnibender/Elemental_recomposition_tabl e **

**This is for the website "narutowikia", in case you want to check it out.**

**I'll be using a fair amount of these for sure, so I want to give credit where credit is due. I had come up with the idea for the villain's kekkei genkai long ago, but I had no idea what elements would actually form it. Thankfully, this genius figured it out ALONG WITH other kekkei genkai that I planned on giving to future characters! Huge props to you, whoever you are! Well, with that said, I hope you enjoy the story! :)**

Team one promptly left the village after regrouping, speeding through the grassy plains that bordered the outer skirts of wind country. They soon made it to a forest, where they began bounding through the trees in pursuit of the stolen grand scroll.

"Keep your byakugan active for as long as you can, Jiyu", Ketsui said to his son while focusing his sights on whatever lay ahead of them.

Jiyu, whom had already had the byakugan active upon entry to the forest, complied with a simple "m hm". Jiyu knew what his current role was supposed to be at the moment; he was to be a lookout for anything resembling the bandits that stole the scroll. Unfortunately, he simply couldn't focus on that. His mind was full of worry and fear as he continued to relay the events that occurred just a few hours ago. The strange man overpowering him with ease, one of his lackies jotting something down in a book, the way the strange man talked about his eyes...it was all so odd, and that's what scared him. After he awakened his byakugan, people tended to flock elsewhere when his presence was known. They would just stay silent if they could not go anywhere. They ostracized him simply for his eyes, and the violent acts it allowed Jiyu to commit. While he couldn't exactly say that he was fine with it, at least he was used to that treatment after some time. The way these men talked about how much his eyes were worth, how much they WANTED the eyes, it only made Jiyu fear for himself. He wanted to say something to Ketsui, but was now really a good time? He glanced at his father and saw the urgency on his face. Jiyu frowned slightly and stared ahead with Ketsui. Now was definitely not a good time. If he was in any sort of danger, then he was sure that his father would help him. They would cross that bridge when they got to it.

"Ketsui-sensei...", Tsuyo said in a worried tone from behind the team. Only Jiyu cared enough to look back at his friend while Sakana and Ketsui simply stared ahead as the leapt through the trees.

"What is it, Tsuyo?", Ketsui asked. He sounded more concerned about the mission than what Tsuyo had to say.

Tsuyo cleared his throat. "Um...well, you said before that the man had a kekkei genkai that let him turn into glass? That was actually a kekkei touta: a combination of earth, lightning and wind."

Ketsui now looked back at the genin, his attention successfully gained. "How do you know that?", he asked.

Tsuyo gave a nervous smile and shrugged. "I read it in a book somewhere. It's a trait that only the Hari clan are capable of using, and they are supposed to be able to do much more than just turn into glass, though I'm not sure what they are fully capable of."

Now Sakana began looking at Tsuyo, surprised to hear all of this coming from him. Jiyu stared at his friend as he listened, amazed that his love of reading would actually be handy.

"What, no more stuttering?", Sakana asked in a disdainful way. Tsuyo somewhat turned his gaze away from her general direction, somewhat feeling discouraged from speaking up.

"W-well, only when I know what I have t-to say...", he said.

"Any knowledge you have on the enemy is gonna help us out a lot, Tsuyo. Don't feel discouraged from sharing.", Ketsui said as he began picking up the pace. The three students watched him speed up and brought their own speed up as well.

"Well, that's all I really know about the Hari clan's abilities. I know that they were all killed during the war along with the hidden ash village, the place where they all lived. Apparently one of them survived, but why would he take the grand scroll?", Tsuyo asked. Ketsui was about to answer, but Jiyu did it for him.

"They wanna sell it. They wanna sell it for a lot of money. I heard them talking about it before it all happened...", he said. The team fell silent as they continued their pursuit, each of them thinking about how they were going to fix the situation. "I'm sorry, pa...I couldn't stop them on my own...", Jiyu said in a sad tone as he slightly bowed his head. "I'm not strong enough..."

Ketsui looked at his son confused. "You're not blaming yourself for this, are you?", he asked. Jiyu didn't respond, he just kept looking downwards as he leapt across the trees. Ketsui raised an eyebrow. "Look kiddo, this guy's dangerous enough to turn a C-rank mission into an S-rank mission. You're only 13, there's no way you could've taken him down yourself. Don't get worked up about it, alright?" Jiyu didn't respond for a moment, but then slowly nodded his head. They picked up the pace yet again, the end of the forest quickly approaching.

Elsewhere, a certain strange man was walking into the hidden smoke village. A large, inactive volcano sat outside of the village and ash lay all over the sandy roads of the town. The strange man had the strap of the large scroll slung over his shoulder as he made his way through town, the villagers retreating in fear as he came into view. He didn't care, though. His steely-eyed expression practically yearned for isolation, and he was grateful that his mere presence was enough to grant it. He came to a small bar and entered, which in turn caused everyone inside the bar to stare at him. He scanned the room, meeting the eyes of all those who continued to stare.

"The bar is closed, leave", he said in a stern voice. The people inside quickly got up and left, which allowed the strange man to plop himself down in a chair and drop the grand scroll on the floor next to him. He removed his draping garbs and sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. He wore normal tan shinobi pants and had bandages wrapped around his mid-section, the rest of his upper body was bare except for a pair of black leather gloves on his hands and a gold necklace dangling from his neck. He wore the hidden smoke headband around his waist like a belt, and he had simple black shinobi sandals on his feet. He was rather muscular and his chest and arms were covered in scars, trademarks of his many years in combat. His eyes were different from the clone he had used to deal with the genin, though; they appeared to be made of glass, his irises looked foggy and dead, his pupil just a lifeless void. He was sitting at a table with a few bottles of sake on it, so he took one and took a few sips. _S_

_o much to do, so little time...no doubt, the children and that mist shinobi will be here sooner or later, which works out in my favor. I'll not only get to cash in the scroll, but I'll be able to sell off a fresh pair of unique eyes as well. Seems like fate is starting to smile upon me. _He took another sip of the sake and kicked his feet up onto the table, stretching as he got into a comfortable position.

At that moment, one of his underlings walked into the bar and bowed in his direction. "Lord Senshoku, I have news from our current business partners", he said.

Senshoku stared at him for a moment before slowly bringing his feet down and standing up. He casually sipped from the sake bottle again as he made his way over to the man, which caused the lackie to slightly panic. He had to be at least eight inches taller than the lackie. "They're late", he said bluntly.

This made the lackie bite his lip. "W-well yes, uhh...they said that there w-were slight complications and that they wouldn't be here until tomorrow evening."

Senshoku just stared at the man as he slowly lowered his bottle onto a table. "You DO realize that this means I have to wait, correct?", he said.

The lackie shrugged and began sweating. "I-I know, Lord Senshoku! I can't do anything about it, though!"

Senshoku just stared the man in the eyes. "...would complications have anything to do with that bath house which just so happens to be on the path to this village...", he asked. His tone of voice changed, and he now sounded slightly agitated. The man quivered slightly before being stabbed in the shoulder with a glass kunai. The man screamed and stumbled against the wall as he held the handle of the weapon which was stuck in his shoulder. The glass blade went deep enough to penetrate bone.

"Clearly you were able to walk there, receive the message, and return by yourself with little effort. Why don't you go on back and show them what I think of their 'complications', hm?", Senshoku said before walking back to the grand scroll. The man simply held the glass kunai embedded in his shoulder and continued to make pain-filled grunts as Senshoku picked up the scroll and slung it over his shoulder. He then made his way outside, making sure to grab the bottle of sake from earlier. He bumped the wounded shoulder of the man upon leaving, causing another pain-filled scream to escape from the bar. Senshoku shook his head slowly as he took another sip and walked casually.

_Now that I think about it, that man was weak. He probably will make it only a few miles before he dies of blood loss. _He stopped and thought about the situation for a good minute before he came to a final decision. _Very well, I will just have to go in person and tell them what I think about their 'complications' myself. _He looked the sandy road at a graveyard, a sudden gust of wind blowing by as it sifted the sand around his feet slightly. He began walking towards the resting place of the dead, for there was something he had to do before he was one his way...

Hours had passed, the sun had spent it's time with the world as it slowly came and went. The moon had emerged in order to illuminate the path for those who wished to make their way safely through the darkness of night. The only sounds one could here were crickets, the wind, and the sifting of sand as team one dashed across its surface. The team had traveled a great distance by now, the scenery starting to resemble that of a desert. They had not stopped since they were attacked, which means everyone on the team was hungry, soar and tired. Tsuyo, who didn't have the endurance of the other team members, was being helped out by Jiyu as they made their way closer to the next town.

Ketsui saw the town coming into sight, but was intent on making it to the hidden smoke village quickly. He looked behind him to see how his team was holding up, and sweat-dropped to see just how bad everyone looked. Jiyu was covered in sweat and didn't look like he was fully conscious as he supported Tsuyo. Tsuyo himself looked like a rag doll, practically going limp while his legs stayed in motion. Sakana looked...ehhh...dried up, like she desperately needed water.

"So...do you all want to rest or keep goin'?", Ketsui asked his half-dead team. They all looked at him as if he were insane for asking such a stupid question, which made him sigh and turn his attention to the front yet again. "Fine then, we'll stop here for the night."

The genin sighed in relief and quietly continued on until they reached the entrance to the town. This town seemed more lively than the previous one; there were many more people roaming the streets and the smell of food and sake filled the air which surrounded every restaurant they passed by.

"Okay...I know that there was an inn somewhere around here...", Ketsui thought out loud as he strolled down a sandy road. Tsuyo was staring at his feet as he walked without help, and Sakana's eyelids began drooping as she continued moving. Only Jiyu was awake enough to look around and take in the sights. There were houses after houses, shacks after shacks, all of them offering some form of food, entertainment, or both. An odd noise caused the team to stop in their tracks and look behind them. It was Sakana, who had gasped and began staring at one particular building which they happened to be in front of. Suprised to hear something other than an angry grunt from her, Jiyu slowly looked up at the sign on the front of this building, and realized that it was a bath house as well as an inn.

Ketsui was about to continue walking, but Sakana had apparently gained the ability to teleport as she almost instantly appeared in front of him. She grabbed him by the vest and violently shook him as bystanders stopped what they were doing to watch. "HEY, I KNOW YOU AREN'T THINKING OF WALKING AWAY FROM THIS PLACE, SENSEI!", she shouted in his face.

Ketsui nervously bit his lip and shook Sakana off of himself as he looked in his wallet. He could swear that he heard the cries of the damned as soon as he opened the nearly-empty thing, which depressed him severely. He put it away and looked at his team as he scratched his beard. As fate would have it, there was just enough for the four of them to spend the night at the place.

"Maybe we should go somewhere cheaper...", he suggested, but raised an eyebrow when Sakana grabbed the handle of her sheathed weapon. Ketsui sighed and looked up at the bath house's sign. "Alright, let's go in", he said. Sakana practically ran inside while Jiyu and Tsuyo lugged themselves through the entrance. Ketsui waited outside for a few seconds and shook his head slightly. _Why does this always happen to me..._he thought as he followed his team.

Jiyu practically melted as he stepped into the steaming water of the spa area. The heat felt slightly painful at first, but it quickly turned into ecstasy as he submerged all but the top half of his head. Air bubbles formed on the surface of the water in front of his eyes and he began to relax. Ketsui smirked at his son's reaction to the water as he leaned against the side of the giant spa. It was a rectangular, outdoor wooden box surrounded by a wooden fence. It was big enough to be a swimming pool, and the only thing separating the men and the women was a large wooden wall. Jiyu was able to hear the women constantly jabbering on about random things he didn't understand or care for. Tsuyo walked through the door leading to the building, his face showing that he was running low on energy. However, that quickly changed once he stuck his toe into the water.

He suddenly went wide-eyed as he yelled and shot his foot up into the air. "GAAAAH, IT BURNS!", he shouted as he held his foot. Ketsui raised an eyebrow at the strange reaction from Tsuyo, who looked at his sensei and nervously smiled as he turned a bit red. "S-sorry, I've never been in a bath house b-before."

Jiyu wondered how someone from the hidden mist, a land KNOWN for its legendary hot springs and bath houses, could have never gone into something like this before. He couldn't help but facepalm at the statement. After some time, Tsuyo finally went into the water and began to relax, though he was as red as a tomato from the heat of the water.

On the other side of the wall, Sakana quickly entered into the water and completely sank underneath, prompting some of the women to stare at her like she was a lunatic. Being a Hoshigaki meant that she was able to breathe underwater through the gills on her cheeks and shoulders, so she simply allowed herself to sink to the bottom of the water and take in the heat. Another good thing about being a member of her clan was that she could restore chakra by being in contact with water, so she slowly began to feel replenished. She shut her eyes as she rested on the smooth wooden floor of the spa, her mind drifting as she began to finally think peacefully about all sorts of things. One thing in particular was how she used to visit the springs with her mother all the time and all the stories she would hear about the war. At least, that's how things used to be for her. Her mother had left her life long ago, and now she was stuck with a ruthless father who simply trained her to smith and fight. Unlike her mother, her father believed that the Hoshigaki should continue to carry on their old title of merciless killers. Sakana liked the idea of that; the idea of simply stepping into battle to strike fear into the enemy was tempting. However, the way that everyone acted around her is a bit of a downside to that title. It meant nothing to her, though. In the end, she would proudly carry the title that her father wished to entrust her with, and ultimately see that her father's wishes became reality. She took a deep breath underwater and couldn't help but smile a bit. All was going according to plan...

Tsuyo, Ketsui and Sakana had left the water some time ago. Jiyu, who was warned by his father not to stay in too long, was still sitting in the water. He looked up at the starry night sky and stood up slightly. He activated his byakugan, curious to see how much his range of vision has improved. To his surprise, his range of vision was now 20 meters in diameter, something he probably wouldn't have noticed during combat. He ran a finger along the pulsing veins on his temple, wondering just what the limits to his eyes were. According to Tsuyo, the Hyuuga were very tight-lipped about the byakugan, which meant that little was known about what it was capable of doing...or becoming. Jiyu heard the door of the bath house open and quickly deactivated his byakugan as he turned to see who was entering. It was a bunch of fat old men mumbling among each other about 'business'. Jiyu's faced became slightly disgusted as the old men got into the water, and he quickly made his way out. He wrapped a towel around his waist as he made his way down the hallway towards his room. As he walked, he saw some man walking past him in a hurry. Normally this would mean nothing to Jiyu, but something was deathly wrong. Time seemed to slow as Jiyu watched the man pass, feeling his killing intent fill the hallway. The man quickly glanced down at Jiyu, his eyes looking exactly like the ones which belonged to the glass clone that attacked him in the other town. Jiyu stopped as the man continued to walk, starring at him with worry. The man stopped as well, but in front of the door leading to the spa area. He slowly turned to stare at Jiyu, which made the boy frown a bit. The noise in the bath house faded, the two staring each other down as if they were gunslingers waiting to draw. To Jiyu's surprise, the man simply smiled at him and went into the spa area. Jiyu felt a chill run down his spine, knowing that this man clearly was up to no good as well as the fact that it would be a bad idea to face him alone again. He dashed to his room to change into his gear, and promptly left afterwards to warn Ketsui.

Senshoku walked out and stood by the edge of the spa as he put his hands in his pockets. He quickly caught the attention of the old men, who smiled at him acceptingly. "Ah, hello Lord Senshoku! What brings you to a fine town like this?", one of the men asked.

Senshoku's expression was stiff, unchanging...cold. This was no suprise to the old man, though. In fact, the businessman expected such behavior. "Not feeling so talkative, ey? Ah well, it's a good thing you're here anyway. We have a proposition for you and are willing to pay handsomely IF you manage to bring us the grand scroll...eh, you DO have it, correct?"

Senshoku's glassy eyes slowly scanned the spa. _Seven men. Seven elderly, obese men with nowhere to run. It's almost too easy. _"Yes, I have the scroll. No, I didn't bring it here. Only a fool would carry something like that into a bath house", he said calmly.

"Well that's fine, at least you grabbed it. Now, about this new job-", the man began.

Senshoku squinted at the man, prompting complete silence from the group. "You seem to misunderstand me...", he said as he began water-walking to the center of the spa. "I'm not here for a new job, I'm here to tell you all something rather important..."

"Oh, and what would that be?", said one of the men.

At that moment, Senshoku aimed his hand at the man who spoke and shot a shard of glass out of his palm and through the man's neck. The man began making choking noises as he clutched his own neck and fell into the water, his blood forming a cloud in the warm liquid. The other men looked at him in horror, knowing what was coming next.

"I'm looking elsewhere for payment...you are all useless to me now...", Senshoku said as he did the exact same to the other six men almost instantly. The bodies floated in the water as the entire spa became dyed red. The warm water cooked the blood slightly, filling the air with it's aroma. Senshoku took in a deep whiff and scrunched up his face. The smell reminded him of bad times, which made him feel like leaving. He turned and went to the door only to see it slide open. Ketsui was standing there, the three genin behind him. Ketsui was frowning deep, clearly ready for a fight.

"Senshoku Hari of the Stained Glass...so it's you that has to die, huh...", Ketsui said in a cold way. Jiyu looked at his father, both confusion and fear on his face. Senshoku Hari of the Stained Glass? A title like that can't mean anything good.

Senshoku grinned in delight. "Ketsui Tamashi, the Man of Five. For such a legendary war hero, it was rather easy to take the scroll from you. I assume you would like it back?", he said slyly.

Ketsui just nodded, and actually gave a slight grin. "Yeah, I'd like it back. Oh, and just so you know, I was only half-awake when I killed your friends in that other town. You might've had a chance back then if you took me down and stole the scroll instead of just the latter, but now is different." Ketsui held up a hand which was forming a sign, ready to fight. "Now? Now I'm fully awake, and ready to drag your dead body AND the grand scroll to the hidden sand", he said.

Senshoku's grin faded as he began weaving hand signs, three glass clones emerged from his body when he finished. "Go deal with the children", he said bluntly.

The three clones leapt towards Ketsui in an attempt to get past him and attack the genin. However, their attempt fell short as they got blown away by a Mighty Gale jutsu launched by the man they planned to get past. The three clones were launched past the original and slammed into the wood fence before regaining their posture. Senshoku squinted and began weaving hand signs again, his clones getting into position for another attack. Ketsui flattened his hand and pulled his arm in towards his chest as he looked back at the genin, particularly Jiyu. "Get back, all of you. Shattered glass can still cut things, y'know", he said with a slight grin.

Jiyu looked a bit worried, but complied when Tsuyo walked past him and tugged on his sleeve. Sakana took a few steps back, but wasted no time in drawing the five-foot long sword. Her toothy, bloodthirsty smile appeared on her face again as she anticipated a chance to kill the enemy.

"Glass Dragon!", shouted Senchoku as he thrusted his arms out towards Ketsui. A giant, snake-like dragon began flowing from his arms as it flew towards it's target.

"Wind Release: Crescent Gale Slash!" Ketsui swung his arm out to the side as he fire the jutsu at the dragon. The jutsu cleanly sliced through the dragon, which caused it to shatter. However, Senshoku's technique was not finished, for the snake-like body of the dragon continued to emerge from his hands.

Ketsui's eyes shrank as saw the body quickly form a head before charging at him. He began launching more Crescent Gale Slashes at the enemy, shattering every new section of the dragon that formed from Senshoku's arms. What he failed to realize was that this was all a diversion, which became clear to him as the three glass clones rushed pass him in the midst of his barrage. The three genin immediately split up, prompting the clones to split up as well.

"SHIT", Ketsui said when he saw what happened, only to turn his attention back to the Senshoku he was fighting and see the dragon coming at him again. This time he hopped backwards down the hall, allowing the dragon to continuously stretch as it pursued him. He had gone a good distance down the hallway before he grabbed at the right part of his chest and gritting his teeth. _I can't believe I'm gonna have to use this...hell, who am I kiddin'? This is the best time to use it. I need to end this fast and get the others before something happens to them. _Ketsui's eyes flashed white for a split second, and that's when he went on the offensive. He hopped forward rather than backward, and landed on top of the dragon itself. He quickly leapt off of it and began dashing down the hallway towards Senshoku while weaving a few hand signs, the dragon quickly snaking around and pursuing him again. Senshoku cancelled his jutsu when he saw Ketsui coming at him at high speed, which caused the dragon to stop moving and fall to the ground as it shattered. Ketsui thrusted his arms out to the sides after he finished weaving the hands signs.

"Earth Release: Stone Gauntlets!", Ketsui shouted. His arms seemed to form a shell made of rocks as the lowered slightly, obviously gaining weight. He leapt up into the air and aimed a fist at Senshoku as he came down. Senshoku got out of the way, but that made little difference when Ketsui's arm made contact with the ground. The impact caused a massive shockwave which blew Senshoku away, anything below his waist becoming shards of glass as it became seperated from him. Ketsui lifted his arm off of the ground, a small crater about 4 feet in diameter now where his fist was. Ketsui turned to face his opponent, who's flesh had become glass. Senshoku was missing his legs and was lying on the ground, the shattered glass from his dragon all over the floor. He made a 'tch' noise as a few of the glass shards on the ground began to move closer to him on their own.

"So, you've actually decided to use that famed power. I must be more of a challenge than you thought", Senshoku said as the small glass shards began gathering below his waist, forming a brand new lower half.

Ketsui stared at his opponent as the man slowly reformed his body. _He turns his body into glass before I attack, causing himself to shatter. He also uses any shards of glass nearby to repair himself, but I have no clue if he can only do that with glass he makes or just ordinary glass. I can't beat him while he's in that glass form, at least not with brute strength. I'm gonna have to play this one smart. _He leapt backwards and dispelled the Stone Gauntlet technique, the rocks crumbling off of his arms.

Senshoku's body turned from glass to normal as he slowly brought himself to his feet. He stared at the hidden mist shinobi and gave a slight grin. "Is that all the power you have to show? You're starting to sweat already", he said.

Ketsui glared as he felt his forehead. Sweat had soaked his forehead protector band and was beginning to run down his face. "Oh, don't get the wrong idea...", Ketsui said as his eyes flashed white. He clutched his sides and groaned slightly after this happened, biting his lip as he attempted to ignore the pain that his technique put him through. Senshoku raised his head slightly as he stared at Ketsui, curious as to what the man had up his sleeve. Ketsui stood up straight and took a deep breath, his arms falling to his sides as he unballed his fists. A small amount of mist began forming from his hands as he began to grin. "...I'm just getting started", he said.

Elsewhere in town among the rooftops, Sakana and Senshoku were also in the midst of combat. The leapt from rooftop to rooftop, Sakana furiously swinging her deadly weapon whenever she was in range of her enemy, now being one of those times. They both just landed on their feet after having leapt from some other rooftop, and Sakana swung at just the right time. Senshoku, who was smart enough to stay in his glass form during this fight, frowned as the sword came close enough to scratch him across the chest. _This girl simply won't stop. How annoying..._He leapt backwards again as he readied eight glass kunai to throw, the Hoshigaki right on his tail.

Her face was one of a psychopaths, a toothy grin spreading from cheek to cheek as she kept her eyes on the target. "C'MON FREAK, SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAN DO!", she shouted at him. They landed again, this time on rooftop that seemed wide enough to allow an actual fight to occur. Sakana lunged at her opponent without letting him even think.

The man gritted his teeth as he positioned his forearm in a way that made Sakana's blade slide harmlessly down the glassy surface, driving her attack into the floor. He quickly kneed her in the face, knocking her back a few feet and separating her from the weapon, which was stuck in the floor. He then took his glass kunai and threw all eight at her before she could get up. She looked up just in time to see the attack coming her way, but only managed to get her arms up in a defensive position to keep a few of the glass weapons from going into her face. Five of the kunai pierced her body, two of which went into her forearms when she blocked. The other three merely slashed her as they flew past the intended target. Sakana growled slightly as she looked at her forearms, the tip of the weapons poking through the opposite side of impact. Warm blood began running from the wounds, and she twitched slightly from the feeling.

"Normal kunai are made of metal, and are no doubt good at piercing flesh. However, the edges and tips of my glass weapons are much more fine, capable of cutting things on the molecular level", Senshoku said.

Sakana frowned as she quickly pulled the kunai from her body, wincing in pain as the wind met with her fresh wounds. "Like obsidian glass, huh...how nice", she said sarcastically.

"Much more fine than that. Cutting through you will be like cutting through butter", he said coldly as his arm became a long, skinny, transparent blade. Sakana took a step back, but then looked at her sword. She bowed her head slightly as she looked back at Senshoku, who was taking a few steps towards her.

"Water Release: Binding Eel Jutsu", she said calmly as she thrusted her palm out towards the enemy. A skinny eel made of water flew from her palm and was making it's way towards Senshoku, the eel growing from her palm much like the glass dragon technique. Senshoku raised his arm to slash the eel, but was surprised to see it evade him. When he realized what Sakana was planning, it was too late. The eel stretched until it got close to the handle of her sword, and bit down on it. Sakana then quickly retracted the eel back into her palm, the sword along with it. Senshoku frowned as the genin's jutsu vanished, her sword's handle now being firmly gripped by both hands.

"Tsk tsk tsk", she said as she slowly shook her head, a grin reforming. "Sorry pal, but it'll take more than a few small holes to keep me from moving." She quickly ran towards Senshoku and readied her blade in a defensive position. She stopped in front of him as she began attacking him, this time with more controlled, precise swings from her sword. The glass man turned his other arm into a glass blade and began countering Sakana's attacks with his own, his arms surprisingly not shattering upon impact.

_Those glass kunai cut pretty deep, it hurts too much to swing my sword like normal, so I have to go defensive for now. Not only does his glass cut deep, but it's also surprisingly sturdy. My sword weighs about 30 pounds, so any of my attacks should shatter him with ease. But he's able to block each of my swings with one of his own attacks, so the density of his glass must be similar to steel...weird. _

She continued her assault, but paused when Senshoku leapt back and turned an arm normal. He slammed his normal arm onto the ground. "Glass Graveyard!", he shouted as his arm grew three times as thick and went through the ground. His arm looked much more crystalized than before and the ground began to rumble, Sakana knew what was coming. She quickly leapt backwards as a gigantic group of glass shards emerged from the spot she was standing. Had she been a second late, she would have been shredded instantly. The second Sakana's feet made contact with the ground, she felt the same shaking again and frowned. She leapt forward this time, narrowly missing another attack. She began letting out a battle cry in midair as she raised her blade and threatened to bring it down upon Senshoku. He looked up and attempted to get out of the way, but didn't get to cancel his jutsu in time. Sakana brought the sword down on the arm he used to cast the technique, shattering it with ease.

He gained distance by hopping onto another roof, his body far away from the shards required to replenish his arm. However, he grinned slightly when he saw the condition that his enemy was in. Sakana was now hunched over and breathing deeply, weakened from the blood loss caused by her wounds. He shut his eyes as he stood up, chuckling slightly.

"It looks like you've reached your limit already. How disappointing. I guess that I will just have to finish you here and now", he said as his body began forming cracks. He lifted an arm towards the sky, and a large group of glass shards began forming in the air. Sakana looked up and saw the moonlight reflect off of the surfaces. And, to her surprise, she began to sweat in fear. The blood loss had taken a bigger toll on her than she expected, for she turned to take cover but merely fell down onto her side, now too weak to really move on her own.

_...no...I don't want to go out like this..._she thought as she stared up at the thousands of shards floating in midair.

"Secret Technique: 1000 Raining Shards!", Senshoku said as the thrusted his arm downwards. Almost immediately, the shards of glass began their descent towards Sakana, who still attempted to move out of the way. But it was useless, she had no strength left. She shut her eyes and waited for it. She waited for the sound of shattering glass and flesh being pierced...she waited for what seemed like forever for her inevitable demise...

"Earth Release: Gaia Shell!", was what she heard instead as a large dome of stone formed around her. Her eyes shrank in surprise, the barrage of glass shattering against the stone dome could be heard outside. She heard someone shout something, but couldn't make out the words. She stayed right where she was, still in shock when the stone walls receded. She saw Ketsui on the roof with Senshoku, who was now encased in what appeared to be ice. Ketsui was panting deep, and looked like he had trouble standing up. He leapt up and landed right next to Sakana, helping his weak student stand. She looked at him in surprise, now noticing the cuts and bruises he had gained from his own battle.

"S-sensei...", she found herself saying in a worried tone.

Ketsui, although beaten and worn-out, gave her a grin. "Oh...this is nothing...but you look like you're in bad shape", he said in a surprisingly warming tone.

Sakana was quiet as she looked at her sensei, too weak to sheath her weapon and too surprised by his last-minute timing to say anything.

"I'm alright", she finally said to him. Although her voice was filled with embarrassment, not being the type who liked being saved. "Where are the others?"

Ketsui sighed and wiped the blood and sweat from his forehead using his forearm. "I'm going to find out soon, but first I'm taking you to the town's clinic. You need to get bandaged up, now."

"I said I'm fine", she argued angrily. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't cover up the weak tone in her voice.

"That wasn't a request, that was an order. Can you walk?"

"...yeah, I think so."

"Good, then you go there yourself and get some treatment", Ketsui said as he pointed to a building in the distance. "It's not far, you can walk there in five minutes. But please go, don't try anything when I leave. I don't want you dying on me."

She sighed slightly and nodded, prompting Ketsui to leap off of the rooftop in search of the other two genin. She looked across the rooftops back to her defeated opponent, who was still frozen.

_Ice...that's a kekkei genkai...but sensei's not a member of that clan, is he? No, he can't be...he used some earth style technique to keep me from..._she gripped her sword's handle tighter as she thought about what happened.

_At least...at least father wasn't here to see it happen..._

She jumped off the roof and began walking to the clinic, dragging her weapon's blade through the sandy road behind her. Her fight was over for now, she had earned some rest and medication for tonight. The only thing on her mind as she walked back to the clinic, oddly enough, was her title of a Hoshigaki. To be brought down in such a manner as her's was embarrassing, unforgivable. She gritted her teeth as she stumbled into the clinic, finally collapsing onto the floor as the doctors rushed to help her.

_I need to get stronger...for them...for you, father...next time I see that bastard...he's a dead man..._


	11. Complications

**A/N: Hey! I'd like to thank all of you who have continued to read on until this chapter, it means loads to me! This chapter took some time because I didn't know what I wanted to do right away. But hey, it's here! This chapter includes Tsuyo being awesome for a bit as well as Jiyu's confrontation with Senshoku. PLEASE FAVORITE/FOLLOW IF YOU LIKE THE STORY SO FAR! Enjoy! :)**

The soft sound of feet stepping on sand coupled with the ominous howling of the wind filled the air as Senshoku slowly paced around the center of town. He had been chasing Tsuyo for some time now, and was rather annoyed by the fact that he had lost two of his clones to Ketsui. The mere thought of it made Senshoku growl slightly.

He was in his glass form, his left arm morphed into a long, deathly sharp glass blade. It was very dark in this section of town, the only light being from the moon and a single streetlight which was dim and flickering. He was glaring in every single direction as he circled the small location, knowing that Tsuyo was somewhere close. Occasionally Senshoku would shoot a glass shard in a random direction, or slice a stand in half as he searched. His hopes were to get a single sound out of the boy, for that would be all Senshoku needed to locate him.

"Come on, child. Do you honestly expect to keep on hiding from me like this? You know that if you make the slightest move, it will be the end for you. I WILL know where you are when that happens, and you can't hide forever. You are only delaying the inevitable..."

Senshoku stopped in front of a stand and roughly cut it in half with his blade arm, the loud sound disturbing the quiet ambience of night. "COME ON OUT, I SAID!"

Tsuyo was smart enough to not hide behind a stand, yet was too terrified to make any attempt to escape. He quivered inside of a shack as he hid behind a counter, hugging his knees and keeping his eyes shut.

_Just relax. Just relax. Just relax. Just relax. Just relax._

These were the only thoughts running through his mind as he attempted to drown out Senshoku's threats as well as the sudden sounds of crushing and smashing, both of which seemed to get closer and closer as time went on. Oh, how he wished Tenshi was there to help him out. She would know just what to say, like always. She would be brave enough to confront the cold-hearted bastard which threatened Tsuyo with his life. She would be smart enough to figure out a way to escape. She...would just make Tsuyo feel better. A small tear rolled down Tsuyo's face as he thought about her, biting his tounge so that he wouldn't begin to sob. He missed her, he missed his house, he missed his books. He could go on and on about the things he missed. Heck, he even missed Mendona. He absolutely hated the jinchuuriki, but he would much rather put up with him than Senshoku.

A shard of glass flew over Tsuyo's head and became embedded in the wooden wall of the shack that was in front of him. His eyes shrank immensely as he bit down on his tongue harder, forcing himself to keep quiet. He began to taste his own blood as it leaked inside his mouth, which caused him to stop biting down on his tongue and hug his knees tighter.

_Okay...okay...what should I do...the situation is that I'm pinned down and my teammates are not guaranteed to find me. So, what do I do? There was a question like that on the final exam, right? Oh wait, Jiyu helped me answer that. Well, I know that I've read some books like that, what do the heroes do to escape...hm...use an incredibly powerful jutsu that nobody knew he had? If only I could do that...what other things did they do? Traps...I can do that. I know how to make traps, yeah. Okay, traps, got it...how am I going to do that when, what did Ketsui-sensei say his name was, Senshoku? How am I going to set up a trap with Senshoku constantly looking out for me?_

Tsuyo's expression changed from fear to impatience as he forgot that his life was on the line. He began thinking about the situation more like it was an event in a story rather than an actual threat. This helped him calm down as he began to think of multiple strategies to face Senshoku one-on-one until Ketsui would show up. However, his thoughts were scattered when five shards of glass got embedded into the shack's wall. Tsuyo twitched and bit his lip, hearing Senshoku let out his anger on multiple objects close by.

_Time's running out, I wont be able to plant a trap after all. I guess 'that' strategy will have to do...ooooooh, I just hope it works..._Tsuyo bit his lip as he began shaking again, nervous to put his plan in motion as he slowly put his hood up.

Senshoku heard a noise directly in front of him, the sound of someone shuffling their feet slightly. He turned all of his attention to that one spot as he began focusing on it. He squinted his eyes and let out a small huff. _So you chose to die there...pitiful. _He began making he way to the shack, but stopped when the genin quickly stood up from behind the counter. The genin's expression was cold, emotionless, different from what Senshoku had seen during his pursuit of the boy. The glass man couldn't help but grin at what he saw. "And there you are...just look at you, finally brave enough to confront me", Senshoku said.

Tsuyo just kept his eyes locked onto Senshoku's, attempting to make his facade seem believable. Thank goodness he was standing behind a counter, he would never seem believable if the glass man could see how badly the genin's knees were shaking.

"I j-just needed some time to formulate a plan", Tsuyo said while adjusting his glasses. "I'm no mindless brute, n-nor am I skilled in any real combat. However, that d-doesn't mean that I'm unable to handle you myself." _Gah, why am I still stuttering?! Pull yourself together, Tsuyo!_

Senshoku slowly shook his head as his glass eyelids lowered. "I don't understand what it is with these genin nowadays. They all act as if they are experienced, as if they know what it was like to fight in a war. They think themselves brave, but they never realize just how badly bravado can hurt them in the end...your Hoshigaki friend was no different..."

This small mention of Sakana made Tsuyo squint his eyes as he began sweating slightly. He could feel his cool and calm demeanor crumbling as he thought about what he had just heard. _What? He beat Sakana by himself? She's so brutal, though! She's so violent, so bloodthristy, and she still lost to him? Oh man, what did I get myself into? _Tsuyo cleared his throat as he attempted to keep a cool head in front of Senshoku. "S-so, that glass style you use...kekkei touta, right?"

Senshoku stared at the boy blankly, aware that he was attempting to buy time by talking. Should he just kill the boy now? Or should he humor him in order to make him believe that his plan was working, and then strike at an unexpected opportunity? In the end, Senshoku decided to go with the latter. "Yes, it is a kekkei touta, a special trait that my clan members were born with."

"Were? What happened to your clan?"

"You seem like a smart child. Why don't you tell me?"

"...they were wiped out?"

"Yes...yes, they were 'wiped out'."

"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'm sure you are, child. Now, let's get to the matter at hand, shall we?"

Senshoku wasted no time as he dashed towards the genin, his bladed arm rising as he prepared to strike. Tsuyo's eyes shrank as he quickly leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the deadly glass blade as it effortlessly cut through the wooden counter like it was made of paper. Senshoku snapped his attention to the side, looking right at the genin. He quickly formed a glass kunai in his right hand and flung it at Tsuyo. The genin let out a small 'eep' sound as he leapt out of the shack, avoiding the kunai. While he did so, he reached into a pouch on his vest and pulled out a small iron ball with black holes all over it. He threw it at Senshoku, who caught it with his right hand easily. He opened his hand and examined it, slightly confused when he realized that he had never seen a ninja tool like this before.

Before Senshoku could think about it any more, Tsuyo made the rat sign with his hands. This caused the ball to blow up, which also caused a bunch of tiny needles to fly out from it. The explosion was small though, so the only damage it ended up causing was shattering Senshoku's hand. The small needles did nothing to his body as they simply bounced off the glass surface and fell into the sand. Senshoku stared at his right arm as the glass shards rose from the ground and began reforming his hand, and then turned to look at Tsuyo as he landed on his feet a few yards away.

Tsuyo began to look worried as he saw the hand reform, and Senshoku noticed this.

"Heh heh...what's wrong, child? Did you truly think that you were dealing with some amature? I'm much more than meets the eye...", the glass man said.

Tsuyo began to shake as he pulled out two kunai from a different pouch on his vest. "H-how come y-you're not in pieces right now? T-those needles should have shattered your body!"

Senshoku grinned again as he began walking to Tsuyo, his hand fully reformed. "Simple, the glass that I use in my techniques can be altered when I add extra chakra to it. Normally, glass if a very fragile material and your needles would have done the damage you predicted. However, by adding enough of my chakra into the techniques, my glass can obtain the density of steel, though I rarely need to use THAT much chakra. So, what will you do about that?"

Tsuyo bit his lip and held up his two kunai in a defensive position, unable to maintain a good grip due to the sweat on his hands. "I g-guess we'll just have t-to see...", he nervously said.

Senshoku just stood still, waiting for the boy to make a move. It was obvious that Tsuyo was weak, so there was no use in wasting chakra to cast ninjutsu on him. Tsuyo threw one of his kunai at the glass man, who allowed it to make contact. The kunai's tip made a tiny hole as it bounced off of the man's chest, doing nothing more than prompting him to grin. Tsuyo gulped when he realized his attack had no affect, and braced himself for close quarters combat when Senshoku charged him. Tsuyo began freaking out, swinging his kunai around and mixing random punches in with his defensive barrage. Senshoku carelessly allowed the attacks to hit him as he swung his blade around nonchalantly, the form of the child's kunai swings being too poor to damage him and the actual taijutsu being laughably ineffective. In fact, his attacks were executed so poorly that they often went off course and made contact with Senshoku's legs and arms. Tsuyo, as careful as he was trying to be, simply couldn't avoid the speedy swings from Senshoku's bladed arm, and ended up getting sliced deeply across the chest. He yelled out in pain, but was silenced by a violent kick to the mid-section from the enemy. Tsuyo flew back and crashed into a small stand, toppling it over as he hit the ground.

Tsuyo dropped his kunai and attempted to cover up the wound with his hands in order to stop the profuse bleeding, but stopped when Senshoku slammed a foot down onto his gash. Tsuyo began whimpering, helplessly watching his victorious enemy raise his bladed arm in preparation to deal the final blow.

"It's like I said...you genin nowadays don't understand how dangerous bravado can be...think on your errors during this battle while you sit in the afterlife...farewell", Senshoku said coldly as he rammed the glass blade through Tsuyo's heart.

Tsuyo went limp and his expression became blank, a small trickle of blood running from his mouth. Senshoku took a moment of silence to pray for the young boy, having no hard feelings towards him. He then slowly drew his blade and flung the blood off of it. His bladed arm morphed back to normal, and he changed from his glass form into his normal fleshy one. He turned his back to the body and began walking, hoping to join the last clone in the pursuit of Jiyu. A gust of wind blew by, and he stopped walking. Something felt...odd. When that gust of wind blew by, he only felt the breeze make contact with his face. What was the problem with that? Simple: he wore no shirt, so he should have felt it on his chest, too. He glanced down and saw nothing out of the ordinary, and frowned slightly. He poked at his chest, and felt something other than flesh. _What is this...why does my skin feel like...paper?_

Suddenly he heard a loud splash behind him, and he quickly turned as he changed back into his glass form. The body was gone, replaced by water-soaked sand. The blood in the area was gone as well. Senshoku stared at the scene for a moment, feeling his eye slightly twitch. "...a water clone...", he said in an annoyed tone. He heard someone clear their throat from atop a shack, and Senshoku slowly glanced over to see Tsuyo in perfect health.

"Well, that was actually pretty exciting, I must admit. Sorry to say it's over, though", Tsuyo said in a calm voice as a grin spread across his face. He made the tiger sign as he released his genjutsu on Senshoku, revealing that the glass man's body was practically covered in paper bombs. Senshoku's glassy eyes widened as he realized just what had happened, and slowly looked at the genin.

"Oh, you're wondering how, right?", Tsuyo said as he adjusted his glasses. "Quite simple, really: I used genjutsu on you this entire fight. That shuffling you heard around the beginning was intentional; I can only put people under genjutsu via sound. Knowing that you would attack after hearing the slightest noise, I decided to use myself as bait and stoop up from my hiding spot. I struck up a conversation with you to buy time, hiding the motions of my arms with genjutsu while I created a water clone. I then used genjutsu to swap places with my clone, knowing that I couldn't avoid combat with you for very long." Tsuyo then reached into a pouch on his vest and pulled out a paper bomb, showing it to Senshoku. "I came with loads of these; a good shinobi is a prepared shinobi, after all. Anyways, I had my clone ACT helpless on purpose just so you wouldn't bother using any real effort in close combat. That's when I, while rendering myself invisible with genjutsu still, took the liberty of pasting these on you during my clone's attack. I knew you wouldn't bother paying much attention to the horribly unprecise strikes, so you wouldn't notice the slight pressure being applied to your body as I stuck the paper bombs all over you. I even did it to your back, which I'm kind of surprised you didn't notice."

Senshoku frowned and looked over his shoulder, realizing that he did indeed have a few stuck to his back. He turned his attention to Tsuyo and gritted his teeth. "Tch...so then you purposely let me finish off your clone, using genjutsu to make it seem like I actually killed you. You're poorly portrayed bravado was all an act from the beginning just so I would underestimate your talents...how crafty of you...", he said in an annoyed tone.

Tsuyo made the rat sign with his hands and bowed his head, still smiling wide as he maintained eye contact with Senshoku. "Rule one of being a shinobi: never underestimate the skills of your opponent. Think on your errors during this battle while you sit in the afterlife...farewell", he said in a smug way. He detonated the paper bombs, completely shattering Senshoku into billions of tiny shards of glass which flew everywhere.

In the distance, Ketsui was panting deeply as he continued his search for Tsuyo and Jiyu. It had been years since he used a secret jutsu like that on an enemy of any kind, so he was not exactly used to losing so much chakra in such a short amount of time. He was tired, low on energy, and could barely focus as he dashed along rooftops. Suddenly, a loud explosion rang out to his left, which instantly grabbed his attention. He stopped and saw a cloud of smoke rising in that area, knowing exactly what was going on. He promptly changed course and continued running, hoping that it wasn't too late.

Tsuyo stood still as the bombs detonated, the force of the blast blowing the hood off of his head. Small glass shards covered the sandy ground, the moon's light bouncing off of them as if they were the surface of one large pond. Tsuyo couldn't help himself, he jumped down from the shack and let out a gleeful cheer.

"I DID IT, I ACTUALLY DID IT! I'M ALIVE, HA HAAAA!", he shouted while he practically hopped up and down. All those times people told him to be brave, it had finally gotten to him! He finally listened, and it payed off! Oh, he could not wait to get back to the hidden mist and tell Tenshi about this! He stopped celebrating for a moment as he realized that the mission wasn't over.

"Hm...I wonder where Ketsui-sensei is...", he thought out loud as he held his chin. "I know Sakana's probably hurt since Senshoku said something about her being too overconfident in herself..." He couldn't help but grin again, realizing that he not only defeated an S-ranked shinobi by himself, but he did it when Sakana couldn't. He giggled again, but stopped instantly when a large glass blade rested itself on his shoulder. His eyes shrank and he slowly looked over his shoulder, genuine fear taking over his body as he began shaking uncontrollably.

Senshoku's legs, waist, head and arm were pieced together, the small shards in the sand being drawn to his incomplete body as it slowly reformed. The arm, which was morphed into the blade on Tsuyo's shoulder, was shaking badly, as if Senshoku was resisting the urge to chop down the ignorant genin right away. Before Tsuyo could say anything, he was kicked in the back by Senshoku, and flew right into a broken shack's wall. Tsuyo began to scramble as he attempted to stand, but froze in place when he heard Senshoku speak.

"SECRET TECHNIQUE: TRANSPARENT PRISON WALLS", the glass man shouted in anger as his arm turned normal. He thrusted his palm onto the sandy ground, and a large glass box formed around both him and Tsuyo. The genin panicked as he began banging on the glass wall closest to him, unable to think straight and use any of his ninja tools. Senshoku's body finally completed itself, and he took a single step towards Tsuyo, clearly very annoyed. Tsuyo saw this and backed up, now sitting in a corner as he watched the glass man in horror.

"So, you thought that it was going to be easy? Only a FOOL would think that considering WHO I AM!" Senshoku's blade arm turned normal, and then both of his arms turned into something that looked much more menacing. The arms slowly grew jagged, sharp-looking glass shards all over, looking like they could shred anything that he punched. He wasn't going to kill Tsuyo, he was going to torture him...make him suffer...make him beg for death, and then finally put him out of his misery. He now stood a foot away from Tsuyo, and raised an arm as he prepared for the first of many strikes...but stopped when he noticed something strange...Tsuyo's pants seemed to be getting darker.

He squinted as he observed the quivering boy. Tears were rolling down Tsuyo's face and his eyes were shut tight, a small puddle beginning to form around him. At that moment, Senshoku realized why the genin's pants were getting darker, and couldn't help but let out a cruel laugh. "Really? You're going to wet yourself during your final moments? How pathetic..."

Tsuyo slowly bowed his head as he attempted to hide his embarrassment, but it made no difference. He was scared, felt hopeless, wanted Tenshi...he just wanted to go home now.

_I can't believe it...just when I thought that I had done something good for once, this has to happen. I really am going to die, after all...I'm worthless, I'm a failure...I'm better off de-_his constant depressing thoughts ended when the very top of the glass box shattered.

"Freezing Release: Congealing Breeze!"

It was Ketsui, and the sudden sound of rushing wind combined with the incredibly chilly air made Tsuyo raise his head. Senshoku was completely frozen solid, his angry face staring right at Ketsui. The sensei was panting heavily as his arms dropped to his sides, having just finished weaving hand signs. Ketsui kicked the frozen Senshoku in the leg, causing the now-brittle enemy to shatter where he was hit. This made him topple over completely and shatter on the ground, his glass body turning into icy specs of dust.

Ketsui shut his eyes as he tried to control his breathing. "There...now he won't reform..." He suddenly coughed up blood and fell to his knees, holding his stomach and trembling a little.

"KETSUI-SENSEI!", shouted Tsuyo as he quickly forgot about himself and moved over to the jounin.

Ketsui held up a hand as he stayed in his current position, gasping. Soon after, he weakly stood up on his own and looked down at Tsuyo, wiping the blood away from his mouth. "You alright?", he asked breathlessly.

"F-f-forget about me, what about y-you? What was that y-you just did? Freezing R-Release? Why is it hurting you?", the worried boy asked.

Ketsui shook his head slightly as he straightened himself out slowly. "We'll talk about that later...for now, let's just say that it's something that I haven't used in a long time...can you still fight?"

There was a slight pause before the genin responded. "...n-no, I used up all my chakra on a g-genjutsu fighting Senshoku...", Tsuyo replied nervously as he glanced away from his sensei. The truth was that he had plenty of chakra left, but was too scared to encounter Senshoku again. Any chance he had to avoid conflict, he would take it.

Ketui narrowed his eyes as he looked at Tsuyo, able to figure out that he was full of it.

_...poor kid...he means well, but this guy's too much for him...can't really say I blame him, though. He's just a genin who expected a normal mission, not this..._

"Alright then, listen up. There's a medical area not too far from here, you should be able to get there in about seven minutes. Sakana's being treated, and I want you to stay with her. Make sure she doesn't do anything rash when she's fully treated, understand?", Ketsui said.

Tsuyo just looked away from his sensei, guilt and depression sinking deep into his thoughts. He nodded slowly. "Alright...", he said quietly. To his surprise, Ketsui put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to face the man.

Ketsui gave Tsuyo a warm grin, although it was hard to do since he was so weak. "I understand how it must have felt, Tsuyo...your first mission and you already had to face an S-rank criminal by yourself. Nobody will blame you for feeling scared. And don't think that a shinobi has to be fearless, because that's just a flat-out lie. Fear is something you can never erase, we all are capable of feeling it no matter how many times we brush shoulders with death."

Tsuyo's eyes teared up slightly as he bit his lip. "...you're scared, sensei?"

"...yeah...I'm scared. I know that this guy's serious. He almost killed Sakana, he's pushing me to my limits, he almost did who-knows-what to you, and he's chasing Jiyu around somewhere. I have every reason to be scared, Tsuyo...because it's not just me who's in danger. I promise you, we'll get out of this alive...and when we get back home, it'll be your first tale to tell as a shinobi...how you survived crossing paths with Senshoku Hari of the Stained Glass..." Ketsui smiled wider, but was surprised at what happened next. Tsuyo hugged him and cried into vest, thankful for the comforting words. Ketsui looked down at the boy and hugged him back, just as he would with his own child. "Hey hey...try and calm down, okay? I've gotta find Jiyu, so go and keep Sakana company, alright?"

Tsuyo backed off and wiped his tears away. "Okay s-sensei...thank you...", he said as he tried to control his sobs. Ketsui gave him a friendly smile one last time before vanishing into thin air. Tsuyo worried for his sensei, and hoped that everything would go as planned. He then left the scene of his battle as he headed towards the medical area. Him and Sakana would wait for Ketsui and Jiyu's return together.

Jiyu had made his way out of the town as he ran from Senshoku. The glass man had been in pursuit ever since Jiyu left the bath house, and hasn't let Jiyu out of his sight since. To his surprise, though...Jiyu wasn't running away. Jiyu stopped when they were a good distance from the village and turned around, facing Senshoku. They were in the middle of a flat, sandy area, the moonlight illuminating their soon-to-be field of battle. The glass man stopped in his tracks and stared at the genin with curiosity. Jiyu frowned at him and raised his fists.

"Okay, this should be far enough. Nobody's gonna get in the way now, it's just you and me", Jiyu said in a surprisingly serious tone. He knew that Ketsui would come to back him up at some point, he just didn't know when. Until his father arrived, he would have no choice but to keep Senshoku busy.

The glass man squinted his eyes at the boy, making a small huff. "Honestly, what causes you children to be so reckless..."

"What do you mean...?"

"What do you think I mean, child? I've created three clones and left them behind to deal with the rest of your team. That Hoshigaki girl as well as the genjutsu user would both be dead if your sensei didn't have a talent for showing up at the very last moment. A true pity, it had been a long time since I've had such an easy time defeating an opponent, and I would have simply enjoyed finishing them off."

Jiyu's expression suddenly became one of worry as he looked down to the side. His teammates would be dead if Ketsui wasn't around? With Tsuyo's genjutsu prowess and Sakana's ferocity, he thought for sure that they wouldn't have any problems. To hear that they were almost killed, and without this guy even trying, certainly didn't strike any confidence in Jiyu. "What're you gonna do now, huh? Try and kill me?", asked Jiyu as he attempted to act unphased by Senshoku's words.

Senshoku grinned, which sent a shiver down Jiyu's spine. "Kill you? Don't be ridiculous, boy. I have other plans for you, plans involving those rather curious eyes of yours..."

Jiyu glared at the man after hearing that. "Why the hell does everyone care so much about my eyes? They're no different from any normal byakugan!", he shouted.

"On the contrary, your byakugan is black as opposed to the normal white. I will even go as far as to say that your eyes are unique, no other pair of eyes quite like them in this world. Your eyes alone are worth around 5,000,000 ryo", Senshoku said.

Jiyu's eyes widened upon hearing the price. "W-what? 5,000,000!? Just because they're black?!"

"That's right", Senshoku said as his body slowly became glass. "That's why I won't be killing you. I'll knock you out and take you elsewhere, a place where I will surgically remove your eyes...and THEN kill you...", he said with a malicious tone.

Jiyu activated his byakugan as he took a step back. "The only way you're gonna get these eyes is if you pry them from my cold, dead body!"

"That can be arranged...", Senshoku said calmly as he began slowly walking towards the genin.

Jiyu found himself walking backwards to stay at a distance from the glass man, feeling both cautious as well as scared. What he saw with his byakugan was a bit of a surprise: he couldn't see Senshoku's chakra network. His entire body just seemed to be chakra, probably because he was in his glass form.

_Alright, well that makes sence. I bet that glass body technique takes up some serious chakra to pull off, so whatever. How am I gonna take him down, though? He's got some serious strength in his taijutsu, my gut knows that for a fact. He also can make glass weapons plus that glass dragon, meaning he's got range. My only strength is taijutsu, and the only ninjutsu technique I know is for knocking away projectiles. I won't last long, but I should be able to hold out until pa gets here._

Jiyu rushed at Senshoku with his fists ready. He began throwing a series of punches, each one incredibly fast and aimed at random locations. Senshoku, however, managed to easily avoid the punches with little effort. He threw a quick punch at Jiyu's face, but was surprised when the genin put up both hands and caught his fist. Jiyu quickly pulled the glass man's arm downwards, causing him to lean inwards. Jiyu then brought his knee up, successfully connecting it with Senshoku's face. A small crack formed on the glass man's face as he stumbled back after the hit, but the genin's attack wasn't finished. Jiyu jumped towards Senshoku and kicked him twice in the chest, the second kick being used to jump off of his enemy as he did a backflip in the air. He then reached into a pouch and pulled out three kunai. Jiyu threw them at Senshoku, who allowed the kunai to make contact and go through his body. He hadn't made his glass that durable for this fight, mostly because he was beginning to run low on chakra due to his last three encounters with the other members of team one. He healed up his fractures and frowned before he charged Jiyu, his arms both becoming covered in glass shards as he got in close. He began his own assault of punches, causing Jiyu to flat-out avoid everything. However, Jiyu was not as fast as he thought, and ended up getting cut badly on his sides as he dodged. He clenched his teeth from the pain and attempted to get some distance from Senshoku by hopping back, but it did nothing except present the man with an opening. Senshoku launched a quick front kick to Jiyu's chest, knocking the boy back a good distance as he rolled in the sand. When he stopped rolling, Jiyu held his chest as he stood up, seeing the glass man standing still and staring. Jiyu could feel his blood from those cuts on his sides beginning to soak the inside of his jacket, and became somewhat worried about his well-being. Of course he didn't show it, though; he kept a cool demeanor and slowly stood up straight as he glared at the enemy. Senshoku rose an arm and did the 'come on' gesture with his hand, angering the genin as he began weaving hand signs.

"Wind Release: Mighty Gale!", Jiyu shouted as he launched his father's jutsu towards the enemy.

Senshoku's eyelids lowered, already having experienced the jutsu and knew it's purpose. He formed long glass spikes on the bottom of his feet, which ran deep into the sand. When the jutsu hit him, he didn't even flinch as the glass spikes kept him supported. Sand flew everywhere as Jiyu's jutsu roared, but the genin only frowned when he realized that his opponent was unphased. He put more chakra into his jutsu, causing it to roar even louder as more sand began flying onto the air. Senshoku, growing tired of Jiyu's pointless effort, thrusted his arm into the sand.

"Glass Graveyard", he said as giant shards of glass erupted from around Jiyu. The genin quickly noticed them rising and canceled his jutsu as he leapt skywards to avoid the attack. Senshoku grinned when he saw this. "Poor move, child", he said quietly as he formed a large bed of glass shards where Jiyu was supposed to land.

Jiyu's eyes shrank as he realized his mistake, and launched another mighty gale at a downwards angle. The air pressure moved him through the air, giving him a clear landing. However, as he began falling again, more large lass shards formed where he was going to land.

_Oh man, this isn't good at all. I've just gotten myself into a real bad mess. No matter which direction I move in, he's gonna just form more shards...unless..._

Jiyu grinned as he weaved more hand signs. He fired a mighty gale and launched himself towards Senshoku. When he began falling, he turned and stared right at his opponent, pulling back his right arm as he awaited a chance to deliver a blow. He was coming in fast, and was going to land right on top of Senshoku.

The glass man simply shook his head and brought his arm out of the ground, making it turn normal. His other arm turned into a long, skinny glass blade as he lifted it up. Jiyu saw this and bit his lip, knowing what Senshoku was planning: he was going to let Jiyu impale himself on the blade. Without thinking, the genin held out his left arm defensively, the blade piercing his hand. Senshoku's eyes widened when Jiyu used his pieced hand to grab onto the blade and move it to the side as he threw his right fist forward. The momentum from his fall coupled with the force of his punch resulted in Senshoku's face shattering into pieces. The two fell and rolled in the sand, stopping shortly afterwards with Jiyu pinning Senshoku on the ground. Jiyu then quickly threw a right punch at the bladed arm that pierced his left hand. His attack was aimed at the section underneath his palm, the section between Jiyu's hand and the rest of Senshoku's arm. His attack connected, shattering the arm and freeing himself as he leapt away from the enemy. He panted slightly and had his eye shut, the pain more intense than he thought it would be. He looked down at his left hand, the long blade still in it. Jiyu grabbed the blade carefully, took a deep breath, and quickly pulled the blade out. He made a pain-filled noise as his left hand began shaking heavily, his blood leaking rapidly and staining the sand below. He reached into a pouch with his good hand and pulled out some bandages as he began wrapping up his wound.

Senshoku stood up slowly, the glass in the sand flowing to him as it repaired his face. "Impressive, yet your actions mean naught. I said that I would be leaving here with you, and I intend to do just that", he said in a calm tone. So calm, in fact, that it made Jiyu feel uneasy.

Jiyu began focusing with his byakugan on Senshoku's chakra, and realized that the amount of chakra that the man was sporting before was significantly less than what he had now: he was running short. Jiyu grinned and shook his head. "You should've come after me first instead of messin' with my team. You got no chakra left. In fact, I'm gonna assume that you've only got enough to keep that glass form going, right?", Jiyu said smugly.

Senshoku's eyelids lowered. "...so you figured it out..."

Jiyu pointed at his eye. "I don't need to figure it out, I can see that you're runnin' low", he said with a grin. His grin quickly faded though, because Senshoku began chuckling quietly.

Senshoku's glass form receded as he turned back to normal. He shook his head slightly at Jiyu in disappointment. "I use that glass form for two reasons: the first is when I know that the enemy is very powerful, very destructive, and I'd die without it. The second is when I need to gauge the enemy's strength and determine whether or not I should keep it active. If I have the chakra to spare, I will keep it active throughout the entire battle, but you already know that I lack the chakra to do so. However, I was also being very nonchalant in my attack..."

Jiyu's eyelids lowered, beginning to care less and less. "Yeah right, you have barely enough chakra to keep yourself conscious. I can see it, don't bother trying to intimidate me."

Senshoku couldn't help but grin wider at the remark. "Oh, is that what you think? You genin truly do love to underestimate your oppone-"

His reply was interrupted when Ketsui appeared from behind him and rammed a kunai through his back. Senshoku's pupils shrank as he looked over his shoulder slowly, seeing that Ketsui was covered in sweat, panting deeply as if he ran all the way from town to get here.

"Gotcha...", Ketsui said as he pulled the kunai out of the glass man's back. Senshoku's body went limp as it fell into the sand, an ominous wind starting to blow afterwards. Ketsui put the kunai away and looked at Jiyu, a grin now forming on his face. "Are you okay?", he asked calmly.

Jiyu looked at his left hand and the bloodied bandages as he moved his fingers, wincing slightly from the still-present pain. "Yeah pa, I'm alright...what happened with the others?"

Ketsui seemed a bit distracted for a moment, like he heard Jiyu say something odd.

Jiyu now looked up at his father, checking if the man's attention was focused on him. "Pa?"

"Hm? O-oh, the others. Yeah, the other's are fine."

"...Senshoku said that they got roughed up pretty bad."

"It's nothin' they can't handle. C'mon, let's go back and regroup with them", Ketsui said as he put his hand on Jiyu's shoulder. Jiyu gave him grin and nodded, and then heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"JIYU!"

Jiyu's eyes shrank slightly once he realized who's voice it was; it was Ketsui's. He slowly turned his gaze towards the direction of the sound, seeing a bloodied and weak Ketsui running towards him.

"JIYU, GET AWAY FROM HIM, HE'S USING A TRANSFORMATION JUTSU!", shouted Ketsui in a panicked tone.

Jiyu didn't even get the chance to move as the fake Ketsui quickly punched him across the face, knocking him out instantly. As the Senshoku clone on the ground shattered into pieces, the fake Ketsui changed back into Senshoku and dropped Jiyu onto the ground. He opened a palm and aimed it at the genin, ignoring the fact that Ketsui was getting closer by the second.

"Glass Shell", he whispered as glass surrounded Jiyu's body until it completely encased him. Senshoku picked up the hollow shell of glass with Jiyu inside and hoisted it over his shoulder, turning to face Ketsui.

Ketsui finally got close enough to see the two, but his eyes shrank when he realized that he was too late. His irises began to shake when he saw Jiyu inside the glass shell. He glared at Senshoku and clutched his body. "You bastard...you BASTARD...WHAT'D YOU DO TO HIM?", Ketsui shouted as his eyes glowed white.

Senshoku shook his head slowly at the jounin, relaxed knowing that he had the upper hand. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You clearly have no chakra left, so trying anything new might just kill you. Besides, even if you were able to use some sort of jutsu, I have insurance", he said as he shrugged the shoulder carrying Jiyu in the glass shell.

"Hiding behind a boy? I thought you were a man..."

"Oh, I'm not hiding, Man of the Five. I'm standing right here, completely prepared to attack if you come for me...but I can't guarantee the safety of your child if you do", Senshoku said as a small grin stretched across his face.

Ketsui almost stopped breathing for a moment when he heard the glass man say those words. "W-what are you..."

"Oh, he did not hesitate to call me 'pa' when he saw me disguised as you. How unfortunate for you, now you can't feign ignorance on the subject. Now, be a good shinobi and stay put...we wouldn't want any 'accidents' happening, would we...", Senshoku said as he took a step away and made a one-handed sign. "Secret Technique: The Infinite Portal." A large glass mirror the size of a doorway rose from the sand right next to Senshoku, and he turned to look at it. At that instant, Ketsui charged him at blinding speed, yelling as he aimed a fist at Senshoku's chest. The man of Stained Glass frowned and used his free hand to catch the punch, which surprised Ketsui. He then pulled in the jounin's fist past his chest, and proceeded to elbow him in the nose, breaking it. Ketsui fell right onto his back, the hit coupled with his low chakra being enough to nearly knock him out.

Senshoku gazed down at the worn-out shinobi carelessly. "Carelessly putting your own child on a team of genin, and then you allow him to fight someone like me alone. You shinobi are all alike: you act first and think later. You never realize what you have until it's gone...farewell." Senshoku took a step into the mirror, the reflective surface acting as some sort of portal. Before he could go in completely, he heard Ketsui cough, and looked at him.

"Why...are you sparing me...kill me...but leave my boy alone...", Ketsui said while trying to stay conscious.

Senshoku just stared at the man, no grin or any other form of emotion on his face.

"Well, it's quite simple. Someone will need to retrieve the body when I'm done with him. Farewell."

He then stepped through the mirror completely, which then turned into plain glass and shattered. Ketsui watched as the shards fell, one-by-one they would penetrate the desert surface as the wind blew sand over them, forever hiding any trace of their existence from the world. Ketsui couldn't but think of Jiyu when he saw this, and finally blacked out.


	12. Welcome Home

**A/N: Hey there! FIRST THING'S FIRST, major props to Zerojackson for his critiques and support! Seriously, you rock man. Alright, so this whole chapter's been written differently compared to the previous ones. I spent MUCH more time on this as I took advantage of the advice that Zerojackson gave me. The result is what you see below. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading this far into the story! Your prize is one free cookie *ta da*. :)**

A sharp pain was present in Ketsui's nose, it's constant suttle pulsating being just enough slowly bring him out of his unconscious state. He was breathing slowly, dazed and confused by the blinding light which beamed into his face. He blinked a few times and squinted as his eyes began to focus, realizing that the blinding light was a simple ceiling light. Still confused, his eyes slowly panned the room. He was in a clinic of some sort; the walls and ceiling were white and the ceiling lights beamed as if they were brand new. From what he was able to see, he was on the far right side of a room, the only other people in there with him being a rather bored Sakana along with a quivering Tsuyo. He decided not to let them know that he was awake yet, wanting a small moment of peace to himself. He tried moving his neck, but gritted his teeth and shut his eyes when the strained muscles in it tensed up like a knot. Unamused, he turned his attention to an open window right next to him, the crescent moon's light beaming down on him. The sight was a calming one, and probably would have helped Ketsui relax had it not been for the heart rate monitor attached to him, which was beeping constantly.

His eyes wandered back to the ceiling directly above him as he began to think. Just what was he doing here? How long was he out? How badly was he hurt? He had so many questions, but didn't know if Sakana and Tsuyo would have the answers. He slowly lifted his trembling hand to his nose and felt it, noticing that there was a bandage applied over the bridge of it. He winced a bit, the slightest pressure making pain shoot through his face. He groaned and sat himself upright on the medical bed, his entire body trembling from chakra exhaustion.

"Sakana, he's waking up!", he heard Tsuyo say in a very excited tone from across the room. Sakana, who was practically falling asleep, snapped her head up and looked straight at Ketsui.

He looked to his side to see both genin quickly making their way to him, Sakana sporting fresh bandages on her arms. Ketsui sighed quietly when he saw this, relieved that she didn't do anything reckless when he had left her.

"How do you feel, sensei?", she asked with slight concern in her voice, which made Tsuyo look at her in a somewhat amazed way. In fact, Ketsui was a bit surprised to hear an emotion other than anger come from her as well.

He just stared at the two genin, slightly dazed. "What happened...where am...", and then he remembered. He remembered what happened before he passed out. He remembered Jiyu, his unconscious body laying inside that glass shell as he disappeared with Senshoku into the mirror. His pupils shrank as began ripping the wires off of himself as he got off the bed, the heart rate monitor flat-lining and letting out a loud, continuous beep after he pulled it's wire off of him. "Jiyu, I've gotta find him!", he said like a crazed maniac.

"W-what happened to him?", Tsuyo asked as he backed away, both scared and worried.

Ketsui noticed that his vest was not on and his pouches were missing, meaning he was only in the dark blue, long sleeve shirt and pants that most Mist shinobi wore. He began searching the room frantically for them, looking in drawers and cabinets that held nothing but medical supplies. "Senshoku has him, I've gotta find him, I've gotta-"

"Sensei, you have barely any chakra. You can't do anything", Sakana said in a more skeptical voice than before, crossing her arms slowly. "You need rest, we'll look for Jiyu when you finish recovering."

"No Sakana, we're headin' out to look for him NOW", He's your teammate, and my son. If anything happened to him...", he stopped looking for his stuff and gritted his teeth as a frown formed, trying hard to ignore the fact that it was a cold-hearted killer who had taken Jiyu rather than some ordinary thugs. He quickly snapped his head around and looked right at the genin, only Tsuyo showing a reaction from the sudden attention. "Where's my gear?", he asked impatiently.

Tsuyo nervously bit his lip, as if not wanting to tell him. He didn't want to see Ketsui do anything rash, knowing that being rash was the very reason he ended up here. Sakana, on the other hand, didn't think too hard about the matter at hand.

"In the clinic's main office, right by the entrance. We'll grab your stuff when we get out of here", she said calmly.

Ketsui looked over at the damn heart rate monitor which kept on making that obnoxious sound. He went over to it and shut it off by pulling it's cord from the wall, and then looked back at the genin. "Let's get movin', now."

"Where are we g-going?", Tsuyo asked.

"The Hidden Smoke Village. No doubt, if Senshoku's got a forehead protector from that village, then he's guaranteed to have some sort of hideout there. We're wastin' time, come on", Ketsui said as he left the room in a hurry, walking past all the medical personnel who were on their way to his room to see what the flatline was about. Sakana and Tsuyo followed silently, ready to find their missing comrade.

A few hours had passed as the team dashed across the sandy dunes between the previous village and their destination, the sun beginning to rise in the distance as the moon retreated behind them. Ketsui had been informed about a lot of things ever since they departed, like the fact that the head of the village they just left had contacted the Kazekage about what happened. Apparently the Kazekage had sent a team to assist Ketsui in the hunt for Senshoku, and they would meet up with each other at the entrance to the Hidden Smoke Village. While this brought some ease to Ketsui's mind, he still couldn't help but worry for the safety of his son...his son who he had so recklessly brought into this mission when it became S-ranked. He felt extremely guilty, knowing that anything Jiyu went through would be on his head.

"Ketsui-sensei, can you tell me what that freezing release thing was?", Tsuyo asked as he attempted to bring the man's mind out of it's bottomless abyss of worry.

Ketsui stayed silent for a moment, contemplating if he should tell the boy of his dark secrets. He was your average man who had the fortune of coming across the right person at the right time, granting him a forbidden tool which would be with him until the very end; a forbidden tool which granted him the title of 'The Man of Five'. However, the tool was forbidden for good reason: if the user was not careful, then death would be imminent. He could be labeled as an S-ranked criminal himself had he not been on good terms with the Mizukage.

_Well...I guess he'll just find out overtime anyways, _Ketsui thought before deciding to share his secret.

"Freezing release is one of two advanced ice release techniques, the other being frost release. Freezing release is brought out by adding yin chakra into the ice release. And before you ask, no, I'm not a part of the Yuki clan. I can't use the ice release naturally."

Sakana slightly frowned, confused. "If that's the case, then how can you use it?"

"Simple: I found another way to use it, a very harmful way that I don't tell anybody about."

Tsuyo seemed worried. "Harmful? Why is it harmful?"

"My natural chakra is wind-natured, but I don't know what my second nature is. In fact, I don't think I'd even be able to bring it out. The Yuki clan's kekkei genkai, ice release, is a combination of water and wind chakra. I found a way to use water chakra, among others, despite not having the correct chakra nature, but...let's just say that the method I used was forbidden. Forbidden because of how easily it can kill you if you're not careful."

The two genin fell silent as they glanced at each other. Sakana looked back at Ketsui. "So, when you used that earth release technique back there, was that also-"

"Yes, yes it was. You remember when Senshoku called me 'The Man of Five'?", he asked the genin before looking over his shoulder at the two. They both nodded, anxious to hear Ketsui's explanation for the title. The jounin looked ahead and furrowed his brow, somewhat reluctant to reveal the truth.

_If I tell them now, there's a chance that they'll talk about it in public without thinkin'. Do I really trust them enough to let them in on the secret? Well...not yet, not exactly...but Tsuyo's a good kid, and Sakana's pretty loyal. Besides, we're a team. We should know everything about each other...yeah, what the hell..._

"They call me 'The Man of Five' because I'm capable of using all five elemental chakra natures...well, technically I can use all seven, but I only know how to perform jutsu with the main five." He didn't need to look back to see the expressions on the faces of the genin. He felt like he knew them well enough to guess how they reacted. Tsuyo, being a bookworm, probably never heard of such a thing from someone other than the Sage of Six Paths, so the boy's jaw was probably hanging from the rest of his head. Sakana, more reluctant to show emotions other than anger and bloodlust, probably would just squint at him with curiosity. Ketsui decided to glance over his shoulder quickly, and smirked when he realized that his predictions were spot-on.

"B-but that's impossible!", Tsuyo stammered. "How can you-"

Ketsui looked ahead again, focusing on the distant horizon as the sun started to rise higher and higher, bringing forth light to the dead, dry desert sands of the country. "I have seven seals on my body, each one representing a specific element. They look like normal tattoos and spread across my entire body, but they absorb small amounts of excess chakra from people around me. Overtime, it all builds up and grants me enough to actually use the seals for their intended purpose: They allow me to change my own chakra nature once I open them, and i can open more than one at a single time, but the amount of chakra it takes to open a single seal is disgustingly large. I have to choose the nature carefully during battle because I can't afford to just switch constantly; I'd die before laying a finger on the enemy. Also, although it's pretty obvious, the more complicated natures need more chakra to use. So, since freezing release is a combination of wind and water to make ice, plus the yin chakra that needs to be added on top of that. That's more than half of my full chakra supply, plus it also require a large amount to just cast a jutsu using freezing release. I was practically empty when I found...", and that's when Ketsui frowned, remembering why they were in such a hurry to get to the Hidden Smoke to begin with. _Jiyu...don't worry, kiddo. Dad's comin' to get you..._

"Found what?", Sakana said in a rude manner, snapping Ketsui out of his thoughts.

Ketsui just shook his head, not looking back to make eye contact with the girl. "Nothing...let's just keep moving."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Hidden Smoke Village, a certain genin was waking up from his long, unwanted nap. Jiyu's eyes opened slowly, his vision being blurry and his head pounding. All he could tell by his surroundings was that he was indoors, his scrambled senses not allowing him to process any more than that. He frowned and shut his eyes, feeling like his brain might explode any minute by the way it painfully pulsated inside his skull. He was laying down on his side somewhat curled up in a fetal position as he rubbed his cheek against the ground when he tried moving, realizing that the ground was actually some sort of wood floor. He opened his eyes again, this time trying to focus as he squinted, and looked at the floor. The wood planks layed out for this floor were old, somewhat rotten, most likely home to termites. Where ever he was, this place has been around for long enough to allow mother nature time for it's discovery.

Jiyu attempted to move his arms and legs, but felt like he was bound by the wrists and ankles. He glanced down at himself, and sure enough saw fine glass rings wrapped around his hands and feet. The genin frowned as he looked at his hands, realizing that they were encased in glass as well. With his hands like that, he would not be able to perform hand signs, meaning he could not use his Mighty Gale for any attempted escape. He mumbled something and straightened himself out as he stretched, trying to get some blood going through his uncomfortably stiff body. He rolled over onto his chest slowly and pushed himself up, careful as to not topple over due to his feet being bound at the ankles. He stood up straight and wobbled slightly, but was able to regain his balance quickly.

"Alright...alright...I'm good now...so where am I...", Jiyu whispered, thinking out loud to himself as he panned the area. In doing so, he realized that he was just in some small room comprised of old wooden logs and planks, the only light souce being a single light bulb in the middle of the ceiling as it buzzed softly. The genin slowly closed his eyes and focused his chakra, feeling the veins on his temples start to bulge as the world became much more visible to him. He used the Byakugan's x-ray vision to see through the walls, and noticed that he was actually inside a small shack in the the middle of some forest. Although his range of vision was 50 meters, he couldn't see much else that told him where he was. He deactivated his Byakugan and began thinking about it all. He was in a shack, which was in a forest. A really hot forest, actually, because Jiyu felt himself sweating. The temperature inside the shack had to be at least 95 degrees, which meant that he was either in some area where the climate was typically hot, or the forest was on fire. Judging by what he saw with the Byakugan, he figured it was smarter to consider the former as fact. Wind country was known for it's deserts and warm climate, so he figured that he was still somewhere in wind country. He frowned though, realizing that wind country was a large area, meaning that he could be anywhere from two minutes away from where he got knocked out, to the opposite side of the country.

He looked at the glass which bound his wrists, seeing that the chakra flowing through it was rather intense-looking. _Density of steel, huh...then there's no way I'll be able to break this. _Jiyu slowly sat down onto the floor, trying to keep himself balanced the entire time as his rear made contact with the old rotting floor. He looked at the glass around his ankles too, seeing the same chakra intensity that flowed through the glass around his wrists. _Well...can't hurt to try, right?, _Jiyu thought as he began banging the glass binds against each other. Unfortunately, no matter how much he did this, the only thing that happened was the binds simply 'dinged' upon impact.

Jiyu frowned at this and looked around the room for anything that he could use to help him break the links, but the room was bare; no furniture, nothing on the walls, nada. There was a small door on one of the walls, sure, but there was no handle. If there was, Jiyu may have been able to use that somehow. He suddenly realized the obvious: it was a door, which meant he could open it and get out! However, he hesitated. He knew that Senshoku wasn't just some simple-minded goon, and probably would have already done something to keep the door from opening. Jiyu focused his vision on what was behind the door. He was able to see a handle on the outside, as well as a large wooden latch. He sighed, realizing that the door was locked on the outside. Suddenly, he had an idea: he could use a kunai to pick away at the glass! He reached for his pouch...and it was gone. Jiyu paused as he took in this fact, and slowly began nodding as his eyelids lowered. _That clever bastard...he took my stuff. _

Jiyu looked at the door again, staring at the outside latch with his Byakugan. Jiyu began plotting ways of breaking through the door, but paused when he saw a figure approaching in the distance. This person was walking straight towards the shack, and Jiyu would bet anything that it was Senshoku. He quickly hopped into a corner of the shack which was by the door, and waited.

Senshoku walked to the entrance of the wooden shack, and stood in front of the door as he stared at the latch. He was fully prepared to do just as he had planned; trade a pair of eyes for money. It was simple, it was the kind of thing he was used to. He had been doing dirty jobs like this for so long, but...why did he feel so...doubtful?

_Look at yourself, Senshoku...what are you doing with your life? He is merely a boy, and yet you treat him like some sort of wild animal. Your only reason for bringing him here was to remove his eyes, sell them to the highest bidder, and then butcher him. What happened to you? Why are you so... _Senshoku's eyelids lowered as he rested a hand on top of the latch, still unsure of his plan.

_There's no denying it...he reminds me of...'him'. Staring at this boy is like looking back into my old life, before all of this. Before becoming a crime lord, or becoming "Lord Senshoku" to the civilians here...before the war...before my new life began. _

Senshoku sighed, finally bringing himself to undo the latch. He had to accept the path he had chosen, there were no more alternate paths in life to take. The only escape from this daily cycle of pain and suffering for the innocent would be death, and he was not ready to die just yet. He craved an honorable death, one at the hands of someone worthy. Had he found someone like that? No. Anyone he met on the field of battle died eventually, if not right away. He stared at the undone latch blankly, ready to continue on with his objective. Once Jiyu's eyes were cashed in, he decided would disappear forever. Living off of the boatload of money that he gained for a single pair of eyes, that would be a better way to live than doing what he did now.

He slowly opened the wooden door, an eerie creaking noise accompanying the motion from the old thing. Senshoku stood in the doorway, seeing nothing but the rotting, wooden interior and the dim, flickering light bulb. However, he was not stupid. He knew that there was no possible way that the genin had escaped; the boy was incapable of performing jutsu, and being bound kept him from using any taijutsu to damage the walls effectively. Logically, Senshoku realized that there was only one place he could be hiding: in a corner by the entrance. He took a single step into the room, and turned to the corner on his left; nobody there. That meant that the child had to be behind the door. However, before Senshoku had the chance to turn, Jiyu had already pushed the door closed and leapt onto his back, knocking both of them to the ground. Senshoku's chest hit the floor hard, small bits of rotting wood springing up off the floor from the sudden blunt force. Jiyu was right on top of him, and began slamming his glass-encased hands against the back of Senshoku's head, hoping that either the glass would shatter or Senshoku would die from blunt force trauma.

"BASTARD, WHERE'D YOU TAKE ME, HUH?", Jiyu shouted in anger as he lost control over his emotions, his strikes progressively becoming slower and heavier. Senshoku gritted his teeth as he began pushing himself up off the floor. He shoved Jiyu off of him using an arm, annoyed by the genin's antics. Jiyu flipped onto his back and landed flat on the floor right in the middle of the shack, but found Senshoku holding a glass kunai to his neck before he was able to do anything else.

Senshoku's kunai was trembling, indicating that he was not too fond of the sudden attack, even if he had seen it coming. He was now kneeling beside the boy, frowning at him. Jiyu, who had decided to show no fear towards the glass man, simply frowned back. The two locked eyes for what seemed like forever, the only sound being the buzzing from the dim light overhead as their unwavering wills collided.

"Stupid child...why do you resist even now...you've lost, so accept your fate", Senshoku said as he began breathing slowly in an attempt to cool his nerves.

"Bastard...the only fate I'm gonna accept is the one I make. Do you hear me? I'm not scared of you...", Jiyu said sternly while intensifying his glare. On the inside, he was very afraid. He was well aware of the dangers that came from tempting someone like this, and only hoped that his comrades were close enough to save him in time...though, he wasn't about to hold his breath.

"...stupid words from a stupid child. You should be afraid of me, very afraid. Your fate rests within my hands, contrary to what you might think."

"Then why don't you just end it, huh? Quit dragging this whole thing out and just do it..."

Senshoku paused, and slightly pulled the kunai away from Jiyu's neck. He could feel Jiyu's leg trembling slightly against his own pant leg, causing the glass man to lower his eyelids. He could see right through Jiyu's facade, knowing that the boy did not wish to confront death so early. "Why are you so eager to die...are you truly that foolish? Do you even know what you're requesting?"

Jiyu was silent for a moment, looking away from Senshoku's gaze. "No...I've got no clue what I'm askin' for...I just know that my father would've done the same thing if he was in my place..." Senshoku looked confused, and Jiyu had seen this when he made eye contact with him again.

"Is Ketsui Tamashi your true father...", Senshoku asked as he drew the kunai away from Jiyu's neck more.

"...no, my real parents are both dead. What's it to you, anyways...you're just another one of those cold-blooded bastards who'd kill for money, ain't ya?"

Senshoku frowned slightly, his mind reaching deep into his beloved memories as it picked out a single phrase from his old life:

_"I'm never going to quit! I don't care how good those jerks think they are, I won't give up! I don't give up...just like you, dad!"_

He felt something well up inside his throat, and couldn't help but gulp quietly as he supressed his own emotions.

"Even monsters have hearts, child...", was all he managed to say as he put away the kunai. The sight of the weapon disappearing overwhelmed Jiyu with relief as he took a deep breath, trying to relax slightly. However, this moment of peace ended when Senshoku grabbed Jiyu by the shirt and forced him onto his feet as he made the bind on the genin's ankles shatter into pieces. "Try to fight or escape, and I'll grant you your wish for an early death...am I clear...", he asked bluntly.

Jiyu, satisfied by the feeling of blood rushing back into his feet, simply nodded once as he shook his legs. He was smart enough to realize by now that he couldn't pull off an escape from this guy.

"Good, then let's take a walk", he said as he swung the door to the shack open, revealing the gloomy, dead forest. Jiyu cautiously stepped outside and slowly looked around as he deactivated his Byakugan. The trees seemed to have been burnt in a old forest fire, their trunks black with ash and their branches leafless. The afternoon sun's light had made the scenery fill with all types of orange hues, making it seem like the whole area would burst into flames at any moment. A small gust of wind blew by; the dry, hot air made Jiyu blink a few times, uncomfortable with the climate. The air reeked of ash, and there was also a small hint of smoke.

"Where are we?", Jiyu asked his warden.

Senshoku took in a deep whiff of the warm air, slightly lifting his face up to the orange, cloudless sky. "...home", he said as he exhaled, finding no other word more fitting. He grabbed the back of Jiyu's jacket and began walking with him through the dead, blackened forest.

They had spent about 12 minutes walking through the apocalyptic-esc forest, the blazing-hot sand being shuffled with each step they took, burning Jiyu's feet. The genin frowned at the slight annoying pain that it caused. He wished to be back at home where the cool mist would have cooled down his singed feet, or maybe sit down on one of the many fishing docks by the large lake beside his home as he stuck his feet into the refreshing water. A slight grin formed on his face as he daydreamed of home. However, his memories thoughts were rudely interrupted when Senshoku immediately pulled back on Jiyu's jacket, forcing the genin to stop walking; good thing, too, because they were on the edge of some mountain which held the dead forest behind them. There was only enough space between the forest and the cliff edge for two people to walk, but Senshoku had not started walking along the path just yet. He was looking out into the distance, taking in the scenery. Jiyu, curious as to what the glass man was seeing, looked out into the distance and was amazed bu what he saw. "What...is that?", he found himself whispering out loud.

"The Hidden Smoke Village", Senshoku said stoically. Unlike the previous two villages that Jiyu had been to, this one was massive. There were a plethora of endless winding streets snaking in between the multiple circular buildings, which looked to be made of sandstone from where Jiyu stood. The only thing Jiyu found odd, upon closer inspection, was that he saw nobody walking in the streets. Further out into the horizon was a large, endless desert, the wind carrying large plumes of sand along the many dunes which favored the harsh environment. Jiyu was amazed; the Hidden Mist was nowhere near this big, and the thought of living in a place like this overwhelmed his senses. And, oddly enough, considering the circumstances...he thought it was beautiful.

"This is...your home?", the genin asked in amazement as his eyes rolled over the scenery, attempting to take it all in.

"Yes. This is where I was born. Although, the sands of time are a cruel thing to bear; they cover all that is old, all that was once sacred, and feel no guilt when they are done laying the foundation for the next generation." Senshoku's glassy eyes slowly scanned the large village, some emotion clearly visible for once on his face, though it was not exactly positive.

Jiyu looked at him and lowered his eyelids, finding the sudden poetic words to be a little overdramatic. "Geez, talk about depressing. I don't get what the big deal is, you were born here, right? Just how much changed, anyways?"

Senshoku's eyes looked towards the village entrance, and he managed to spot four ant-sized silhouettes standing in front of it. He frowned slightly, as if he knew who they were. "Everything changed here, child. This place was once known as the Hidden Ash Village, a community which my people strived in." He turned to his left and began making Jiyu walk again, practically dragging him along the ground. He was reluctant to eliminate any chance that the four people in front of the village may have had at spotting him.

Jiyu glared at the glass man for the sudden pulling as he regained his footing and began walking normally, but noticed something amazing when he looked in Senshoku's direction; they were walking right next to a massive volcano. It towered over them, and there was a small amount of smoke escaping from the top. He gulped loudly before asking "is that thing active?"

Senshoku shook his head, keeping his eyes focused on the path in front of him. "No, it hasn't been active for a very long time. I doubt it would begin to show signs of activity anytime soon."

The path that the two continued walking along wound around the towering behemoth that was the volcano. Jiyu's pace began to slow somewhat as he got more nervous, noticing that they were headed along a path which rose upwards to the very top of the thing. As silly as it seemed, he had a large fear of heights. He constantly found himself glancing over the edge of the path, which seemed to be getting thinner and thinner as they rose closer to the orange sky.

About halfway up, Jiyu found himself bumping against Senshoku to stay away from the edge. The glass man's gaze shifted over to the genin, curious about the child's strange behavior. "What's the matter", he asked Jiyu in a non-threatening manner, pulling the boy away from the edge somewhat.

The genin, not noticing the change in tone, continued staring over the edge of the narrowing walkway. "N-nothing. Who said there was a problem?", he said angrily as he glared at his warden. Senshoku shook his head, ignoring the child's petty attempt to seem fearless.

They reached the top a few minutes later, and a small elevator lift was right in front of the walkway's end, which caused Jiyu to shift his attention to something other than the death-defying height that he was at. The walkway angled down sharply into the volcano, leading to a simple iron-grated floor which was connected to a pulley system and some cables. The contraption looked very old-fashioned, but clearly did what it needed to do if Senshoku had bothered to walk the genin there. "...that leads to inside the volcano? You actually go inside this thing?", he asked as he turned his head towards Senshoku.

The glass man simply nodded as he stared down the sloping walkway at the lift. "Yes. This is where I take refuge...", he said as he turned his head to face the village one more time. This view was better than ever, allowing Senshoku to see the majority of the desert as well as a few neighboring towns. Jiyu glanced at him, curious as to why they were not moving. However, instead of saying anything, he turned to look out at the village again, impressed by the improved view.

"It's a huge place, a real huge place", Jiyu said, granting nothing but an 'mmm' to come from Senshoku. Jiyu looked up at the glass man, a sudden question coming to his mind. "Why don't you live down there like everyone else? You're a part of this village, right?"

"I'm not merely a part of this village, child. I own it, all of it", Senshoku said stoically.

Jiyu looked at him, clearly surprised. "You OWN this village? How?", he asked, forgetting that he was talking to a criminal.

"Why does that matter to you?", Senshoku said as his glass eyes slid their gaze onto Jiyu. "I am your enemy, correct? There is no use in getting personal."

"I'm your prisoner, so it's not like I can do anything. I'd like to know", the boy said.

Senshoku hesitated, another quote from his past flowing into his thoughts:

_"Come on daddy! I want to know! Pleeeaaase?"_

The glass man exhaled slowly as he shut his eyes, allowing the memory to pass. "Very well...but let us be on our way, first", he said as he began walking with Jiyu again. Jiyu complied and walked along side Senshoku, but noticed something odd: his warden was not being so rough with him now. The two carefully walked down the sloping walkway and onto the grated metal floor, the thing wobbling in an uncomfortable way. Jiyu bit his lip as he stood on it, thinking the cables would snap any moment from the combined weight of him and Senshoku. However, his fears were disbanded when Senshoku pulled a level near the pulley mechanism, beginning their smooth, slow descent in the home of The Man of Stained Glass.

Four shinobi of the Hidden Sand stood before the entrance to Hidden Smoke Village, waiting patiently for Team One of the Hidden Mist to show up. The Sand shinobi consisted of one jounin and three genin; a standard team. The shortest member of the three genin had his hands in his pockets as he patiently waited, but couldn't help wonder what the hold-up was. "Kankuro-sensei, how far away do you think they are?", the boy asked in an exhausted voice.

Kankuro, who was now sporting a tanned jounin vest to accompany his usual attire, looked at the boy with slight amusement. "What, you're not getting anxious to take down Senshoku already, are ya Sakyu?", he teased as he folded his arms.

"No sensei, I was just curious", Sakyu said as he rubbed one of his eyes, both of which had heavy bags under them from a lack of sleep.

Sakyu of the Sand, a simple child who was blessed with the task to be the jinchuuriki for the one-tail, Shukaku. The genin's eyes were a dark red hue with rather small pupils within them, as if the iris had begun to consume it. His hair was the exact same color of his eyes, and was tied up into a short, wild ponytail in the back of his head. He wore a short-sleeved mesh shirt in order to keep somewhat cool in the steamy desert heat, though it usually did the opposite of what he intended and caused him to feel more hot. The only unusual thing about his attire was his pants: the baggy, pale-brown pants that nearly covered his black shinobi sandels had cargo pockets...lots of them. In fact, the pants he wore sported 10 cargo pockets on the front, back, and outermost side of each pant leg; 60 pockets carrying who-knows-what. Whatever it was, it had to be heavy enough to make the pants weigh a lot, which is why Sakyu also tied his forehead protector around the top of his pants, acting like a belt.

Sakyu slowly lifted a hand out of his pocket as he rose his forearm to his head, wiping away a few beads of sweat. "Why must the desert be so hot...", he said before letting out a quiet sigh. Oh, how he would much rather be back in his village, lying in a bed as he attempted to get some rest after having a nice warm meal that his mother had prepared. He had been going for about a week now without a single wink of sleep, and the only food he had to eat on his way to this village was cheap and tasteless.

Kankuro snickered at the genin's comment. "What can I tell ya, kid? I can't do anything about that", he said as he redirected his attention to the volcano which towered behind the large village. "Say Jari, you came from here, right? Is that volcano active?"

The second genin, a girl with bleach-blond hair, calming green eyes and a warming smile gave Kankuro a slight chuckle before looking in his direction. "Of course not, sensei! If it was, then I'm sure that the head of the village would have issued a wall to be built!".

Jari Hitsugi, one of the few people in the world whom you would ever want to be your best friend, was also one of the more skilled kunoichi from the Hidden Sand. Originally from the Hidden Smoke, she moved with her parents around the age of 10, and was now a proud citizen of the Hidden Sand. Her hair was shoulder length while the hair on the front of her head came down past her face in small strands, usually stopping right in front of the Hidden Sand forehead protector she wore around her neck. Her entire upper body with the acception of her forearms and hands were covered in bandages, and a grey sleeveless button-up coat that was a little too small for her was being worn on top of them. Her lower half's attire consisted of grey short-shorts with bandages emerging from underneath, wrapping around her legs and stopping just above the knees. One of her more notable features was the scythe she had strapped to her back; the blade had a very artistic design to it, the blade having some sort of tribal pattern to it while forming the typical shape of a scythe blade.

"I think I see them coming into view", the third genin said as he narrowed his eyes, staring into the distance. "Wait...waaaaiiiiit...nah...nope, my bad. I'm just seeing things...", he said before sighing impatiently.

Sakyu drearily glanced at his teammate, this having been the 30th time for him to see things that weren't there. "Kyofu, I told you to drink up back at the other town. You know that you start seeing things when you get too hot", he said in one of those 'as-a-matter-of-fact' tones while still sounding tired.

Kyofu grew a tick mark as he snapped his head around to shout at his teammate. "SHADDAP MAN, THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS DRINKING THAT MURKY STUFF! I'D RATHER DRINK MY OWN PISS!" He then shot a glare at Sakyu as his teammate began to sweat-drop, and turned his attention back to the distant sands.

Kyofu Chikara was the final genin in the Hidden Sand team. Short-tempered and ready for anything, he was the group's main source of muscle (and he enjoyed showing that fact off as much as possible). He wore a black bandana which had the Hidden Sand forehead protector plate attached, and his short black hair poked out from underneath it. He wore war paint, much like his sensei, although he preferred it to be dark red as opposed to his sensei's purple. He wore a worn-out flak jacket with all the pockets removed, and had dyed it a very dark shade of grey. Underneath it was no shirt, which he excluded on purpose to show off his...unnatural muscle tone for someone his age. He wore metal-plated gauntlets, which reflected the orange desert sky's light into his fierce, narrow, dark-blue eyes as he continued to stare into the distance. He was kneeling, being to tired to stand, and his black pants were getting covered in sand along with his black shinobi boots.

After a few minutes of silent waiting, Kyofu practically leapt up onto his feet. "THERE, THERE THEY ARE! FOR REAL THIS TIME, I SWEAR!", he shouted at his teammates sounding both happy and psychopathic.

Kankuro squinted and took a few steps to position himself in front of his team, keeping his arms folded as he watched the three mist ninja approach at a steady pace.

Ketsui stopped right in front of Kankuro, a worn-out Tsuyo along with a sweat-drenched Sakana following right behind. Normally, Ketsui would have smirked and said something friendly, but right now he was hot, uncomfortable, worried and angry. "Is your team ready, Kankuro?", he asked, already knowing the Sand jounin for having led the secret attack division during the war.

Kankuro's face became serious as he nodded. "We're ready when you are", he said, but then looked a bit confused when Ketsui's eyes wandered over his shoulder. He turned his head to see that the Mist jounin was staring at Sakyu.

"I see you've brought the Hidden Sand's jinchuuriki. I heard lot's of good things about him...", Ketsui said, which caused a small smirk to appear on the genin's face. Sakyu was rather proud of his title, and it amused him that even people in the Hidden Mist were aware of his status.

"Yeah, the Kazekage sent you some real muscle. We'll help you out any way we can", Kankuro said with a smirk.

Ketsui nodded, and all seven ninja turned their attention to the Hidden Smoke Village. After each of them took a long deep breath, they dashed through the entrance.

The hunt was on...


	13. Stained Glass

**A/N: DAMNIT, I HATED WRITING THIS CHAPTER! I was not amused at all, and it's not like this is a bad chapter or anything. I just was not in the mood to do this particular one, that's all. Still, I feel like it turned out okay in the end, so that's good. MAJOR SHOUTOUT TO ZEROJACKSON FOR BEING A BROSKI! Seriously man, you're cool. And if any of you smart, sexy readers happen to see this, I highly recommend Zerojackson's story: The Winds of Change. It's a fantastic read :) **

**Speaking of which, you readers who have both read this AND Winds of Change will notice that I've put a nod to Zerojackson's story in this very chapter! The Village of Orochiasu is the main location of interest (currently) in Winds of Change, though I won't say any more than that. Seriously, read it. It's good! I wouldn't lie to you :)**

**Well, anyways, the word count for this particular chapter is OVER 9000! That's right people, this is a long one. I hope you enjoy it, regardless! If you have read every chapter from the beginning to this one, I couldn't thank you enough for actually sitting through all of it! If you enjoyed the story thus far, please remember to favorite/review! Enjoy! :)**

"Fear is the most dangerous weapon that one could ever wield. It cannot be seen by those on the outside, yet those under it's constricting grip yield instantly as they beg for mercy. So, how does one acquire the power of fear?"

The hot, uncomfortable air inside the volcano made it hard to breathe for Jiyu as he listened to Senshoku's ramblings. He had asked the glass man exactly how he had gained control over the Hidden Smoke Village in hopes that he would be able to delay the removal of his eyes, but the glass man was more cautious than the genin would have liked. Here Jiyu was, glass chains pinning him down onto a wooden table inside Senshoku's little hideout, soaking in his salty sweat as the glass man paced around the metal grate floor that was embedded into the volcano's inner walls. Each footstep made a low 'tunk' sound as he paced, making Jiyu constantly worry about how stable the floor was. After all, this inactive volcano still contained some lava, and although they were suspended above the bubbling yellow stuff by about 50 feet, they were still close enough for it to illuminate the area.

Jiyu stayed silent as he kept his eyes focused on Senshoku at all times, watching the warden walk back and forth with his arms crossed as he stared up the dark, ancient throat of the volcano and into the orange sky which appeared to be slowly subduing to the oncoming presence of darkness. It would be night in a few hours, which meant time was running out. Where the hell was Jiyu's team when he needed them?

"You do not know? It's rather simple", Senshoku said as he stopped pacing and turned his head to the boy. His face was rather stoic, a bit too unenthusiastic about the fact that he would soon have the world's most unique eyes to put up on the black market. His glassy eyes stared into Jiyu's desperately, as if they begged for some sort of response out of the boy. Jiyu had seen a pair of eyes like that once...though he couldn't remember where...

Nevertheless, Jiyu could see what Senshoku wanted, and decided that it would be wise to comply with the unspoken demands shot his way. "I have no clue...", Jiyu said passively as he maintained eye contact, shutting one eye as a bead of sweat rolled down into it. Did he have a good idea of how to strike fear into people? Yeah, sure, how difficult could it be? He assumed it was as easy as killing a bunch of people, and that's why most people were afraid of killers like Senshoku. At least, that's what he assumed.

Senshoku squinted slightly as he continued staring at Jiyu, the yellow light from the calm, bubbling lava below intensifying his glassy eyes as they gazed into the genin's. "When you commit either an act of crime or heroism, you kill all except for one person. You allow that person to escape, to warn whoever they work for about your presence in this world. Very soon, your name shall begin to spread like a virus, striking fear into the hearts of those who you have labeled as the enemy. In time, the very mention of your name becomes tabuu. People become paranoid, helpless, terrified when you actually step foot in front of them. To you, I am a simple killer looking to make a profit. However, to those people tucked away inside this village's homes, those people who tremble as they see my shadow move across their windows in the moonlight, I am the voice of authority. They do not like me, they do not want me, yet they know that it's wise to not speak out against me."

Jiyu's couldn't help but frown at this statement, because that very attitude reminded him of someone he wasn't very fond of: Mendona. That was the exact mentality of the Jinchuuriki, and no doubt any other Jinchuuriki out there in the world. They think that just because they have all that power that it gives them the right to...

"That's gotta be a terrible way to live...I sure as heck wouldn't wanna live like that", Jiyu said in a rather disgusted tone, not realizing that he had let his anger slip. However, he didn't care. He was too hot and uncomfortable, too scared and anxious to take back his words. He knew that he was playing with fire, but he felt like it didn't make a difference at this point. If he was going to die, then he'd die while being himself. Senshoku's brow furrowed as the two continued to make eye contact, and was about to speak before Jiyu spat out a comment. "What did you mean 'either an act of crime of heroism', huh? Just what the heck do YOU know about being something like a hero...being something good..."

To the genin's surprise, Senshoku's expression softened as his gaze was directed upwards back to the slowly darkening sky. He stared at it silently, longingly, as if he would love for nothing more than to be blessed with something. A chance. What kind of chance, though? Simple, a chance to go back and right all his wrongs. A chance to go back and change his life for the better...a chance to know about being something good.

"...not much, actually. I used to think that lending my abilities to the Shinobi Allied Forces would be considered a good thing. That everything would go the way I imagined it would if I were to protect the things I held dear..." His voice seemed to become more quiet, more gentle as he talked. He was clearly thinking about something else, and seemed to be lost in whatever his thoughts were.

Jiyu, picking up on the change in his tone, relaxing slightly as he felt his anger and anxiety subside somewhat. If anything, he was more curious about the sudden change in Senshoku's attitude. It was much different compared to the attitude of the man who pinned him down in the hallway of that inn during the team's first night of rest, who he fought with, who knocked him out and threw him into that log cabin. His attitude, no, his emotional state, seemed...fragile, as 'punny' as it sounded.

"What do you mean? You helped protect the world, didn't you? You helped protect the freedom to live a normal life without being under...uhh...", Jiyu's eyes began to wander as he tried to remember that boring lecture about the Fourth War in class.

"An infinite Tsukuyomi", Senshoku said without moving his gaze away from the sky.

Jiyu paused for a moment, then raised an eyebrow as he now stared up at the sky with his warden. "Yeah, that. You helped prevent that. So what made you do this? You could've continued to be a good guy, right?"

Silence hung in the air between the two, the only sound being the bubbling of the lava below them as Senshoku slowly looked down at his own feet.

"...I could have been, yes. I probably could have been something good. However, it would seem that fate wanted something else from me. A man can only endure so much pain in their life before subcoming to it's ever-growing pressure that it put's on the shoulders", he said in a depressed tone of voice.

_Look at who you're talking to, Senshoku. A boy. A boy who's stalling for time. What's even worse than that is the fact that you are taking advantage of this! You are speaking to him, allowing time to pass! Not that it matters, his team is most likely still far from here, but that is not the point. Do not dwell in the past, for it is done with. It most certainly has been a rough journey, but this child will not understand how you feel...he lacks the heart to do so. But...then again...your dwelling in the past is the reason for you being here...so..._

"...what happened?", Jiyu asked with innocent curiosity in his tone as he began looking at Senshoku again. The glass man kept his head bowed as he shut his own eyes, letting out a small sigh. He continued to stay silent, which struck Jiyu as odd. He may not know Senshoku personally, but he could tell that he was not the type to sigh in such a sad way. "What's up?", he asked he shifted around in the chains slightly, attempting to get more comfortable on the uneven wooden table.

Senshoku simply shook his head as he took in a deep breath, trying to relax as he regained his cool demeanor. "You wish to know why I have become a criminal, is that it? What drove me onto this path?", he said in his usual tone as he rose his head up, regaining direct eye contact with the genin. His glassy stare was back, and he wore a frown on his brow. However, this was not a look of anger, but one of suppressed pain. Pain that he never bothered to share with the world. Pain that the world would not bother to hear of...

Jiyu, without even pausing, nodded. Sure, this was an opportunity to stall for even more time, but...that wasn't the reason why he wanted to hear Senshoku's tale. As strange as it sounded, he wanted to know about the man's past. He wanted to hear about the origin of Senshoku Hira of the Stained Glass. He wanted to see just what turned a man into...this.

"Very well", Senshoku said as he folded his arms slowly. "This is my tale of woe..."

_FLASHBACK_

Senshoku tightened the Shinobi Allied Forces headband that now covered his forehead as determination began to flow vigorously through his veins. The time has finally come for his clan to gain the respect that they had craved for so long. When this war was finally over, the Hira clan would finally be recognized as more than just killers. They would be allowed to walk in the sunlight with the other honored war heroes. They would be free of their blood-drentched reputation. Free of judgement. Free of hate. Free. Senshoku couldn't help but smile at the thought of this as he looked at himself in the mirror, running his hand along the brand new Sand Shinobi vest that he had been issued. It's rough leather exterior felt quite different to the usual vests that jounin were granted upon promotion in this village. It didn't feel cheap, or fake. No, this was genuine leather straight from the Hidden Sand! It may have been a mere article of clothing to some, but it was an omen for Senshoku. It was a sign that his hopes and ambitions would become a reality soon...

Nikko Hira, his wife, walked into the room and stared at him, small tears welling up in her eyes as she saw that Senshoku was almost ready for his departure into the night to join the Shinobi Allied Forces. She would have loved to go and fight with her husband, making sure that he didn't get too reckless as he liked to do. She would have liked to stay by his side, and cleanse the stained reputation of their clan...but...she had much more important duties to tend to...

"Mommy, where's daddy going?"

The duties of a parent...the duties of a mother...

Nikko cleared her throat and wiped away her tears, forcing a smile on her face as she looked down at her child. "Oh...daddy's going on a long trip, Hahen", she said softly to her five-year-old son.

The young child tilted his head to the side as he looked up at his mother, innocent curiosity clearly visible in his eyes. "Why's daddy going on a long trip? When's he coming back?", he asked a little louder than he had realized.

His questions traveled across the room and met with Senshoku's ear, gaining his attention as he turned around and face his family. He saw the tears that Nikko fought so hard to keep back, the very ones that were beginning to leak down her cheeks as she bit her quivering lip. Although she was fully confident in the abilities of her husband, she still feared that he would not return at all.

Senshoku had been married for some time now, which meant that he knew exactly what Nikko was thinking when he saw her expression. _Nikko...after five years of marriage, you still fear for my safety?, _he thought to himself. Most women in the Hira clan do not give the well-being of their spouses much thought. They all assumed that everything would go as planned, and that everybody would return home safely from the war. However, both Senshoku and Nikko were smart enough...no...brave enough to face the grim reality of war; not everyone would come back safely.

Senshoku simply stared at her for a slight moment before his gaze lowered to meet his son's. "Come here, my son", the glass man said as he knelt down onto the wooden floor of their small, yet comfortable house.

Hahen walked over to his father, curiosity still lingering in his head as he inspected the man's new vest. "Where'd you get that, daddy?", the boy asked as he stuck an arm out and poked the rough tanned leather.

Senshoku's eyelids lowered as he gave his child a smile, one full of excitement. "The Kazekage sent this to me. He wants me to go help him fight against some evil people", he said with his enthusiasm leaping from word to word. _That's right, _he thought. _The Kazekage sent this to me, to all of us. He's finally acknowledging us as more than just killers. We're being seen as normal men and women, as soldiers. As true shinobi._

Hahen's eyes widened, amazement filling his little mind as a large smile spread from ear to ear on his face. "You're going to help the Kazekage?", he asked his father.

Senshoku nodded, feeling his own grin grow wider.

"Wow...", Hahen said before spinning around and facing his mother. "Mommy, did you hear that? Daddy's gonna help the Kazekage!", he shouted with excitement as he threw his arms in the air. "Daddy always said that being brave was good, and the Kazekage thinks daddy's brave enough to help him!"

Nikko tried to force her quivering lip to smile, but couldn't. Instead, she just nodded as she wiped away a tear that managed to escape her eye. "Th-that's right dear. Say goodbye to daddy, okay? He's going to have to go soon, and it's past your bedtime", she said as she quietly sniffled, her gaze never leaving Senshoku.

"Ohhh, alright...", Hahen said in an somewhat annoyed tone as he turned back to his father. The boy, still showing hints of excitement in his smile, wrapped his arms around his father's shoulders. "Good luck, daddy! Show everybody how brave you are!"

Senshoku, shutting his eyes and attempting to keep his own lip from quivering, hugged his son back. "I will, son...and when I come back, we're going to have a big celebration, alright?", he said as he felt his arms squeeze his son tighter.

"That sounds like fun, daddy", Hahen whispered into his father's ear before parting with him.

"Wait, I have something to give you", Senshoku said as he dug into his pocket, drawing Hahen back to him. He pulled out his normal forehead protector, the symbol for the Hidden Ash Village visible on the battle-damaged metal plate.

Hahen's eyes widened with surprise as he quickly snatched it from his father, causing the glass man to chuckle quietly. He tied it around his forehead, the metal plate being much too big for him and looking rather goofy. "Thanks daddy...go show those bad guys who's boss!", he said as he gave his father one final wave while walking backwards, and then turned to run to his room, ready to dream of his father on the front lines of an army as he lead the attack on an unknown enemy.

Senshoku stayed on his knee for a moment before standing up slowly, looking at his wife with the same exact smile that he had given his son. "Nikko...", he said softly.

"You could have lied, you could have turned them down and said you were injured...you could have found some way to stay", she said as she finally released the grip she held on her emotions, the tears now flowing freely between her small, gentle sobs.

"You already know that I could never have done that", Senshoku said as he slowly shook his head. He held his arms out towards her, and she quickly responded by running into his loving embrace. She buried her face into the tanned leather vest, her tears granting it the first stains of it's existence. "This is the opportunity that our people have dreamed of. A chance to wash away the blood which cloaks our clan's hands. When I return, our lives will be much better." He paused, allowing Nikko to cry some more as he kissed her on the top of her head. "Do not fear for me, I will return safely. That, I can promise you."

"But I know you, Senshoku! You're reckless, and you end up getting into more trouble than you can handle! You're not invincible!", she said in a raised voice as she quickly rose her head to meet his gaze. She began gripping at the back of his tanned vest, already picturing deep slashes and cuts being present in the material if her husband were to return.

Senshoku's smile, to her surprise, had not faded at that statement. Usually he disliked hearing things like that, things that made him believe that she doubted his strength. However, this time was different. Hearing those words brought him a sence of comfort, a sence of well-being. Those words, to him, meant that there would always be someone in his home while he was far away. Someone waiting for him, praying for him...loving him. "I know that...", he said as he shut his eyes, his smile still very present. "So keep me in your prayers. Pray that I do not forget your warnings, and that everything will be fine. Keep me in your thoughts, and all shall be well."

The two stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like the longest time, Nikko never wanting the moment to end. And although he would have denied it to his fellow comrades, Senshoku preferred this moment compared to the danger he knew that he would soon face. Before Nikko could respond to him, their door slowly opened, catching the attention of them both.

Another member of the Hira clan was in the doorway, shinobi gear covering their body and a frown embedded onto their brow. "Senshoku, it's time", they said sternly.

Senshoku's smile quickly faded as his face became strikingly similar to the shinobi's. "I shall be there soon", he said with the same tone as the soldier's, causing the individual to simply nod and shut the door. Senshoku turned his attention back to Nikko, and smiled softly again. He brought her face close to his as their lips met, both of them savoring the final kiss they would both have before the start of the war. Senshoku could feel Nikko's warm, soft lips tremble slightly, her worry for his safety still very present. He slowly pulled his lips away from hers as he gave her one final reassuring smile. "If our clan's reputation was not able to be cleansed, then I would have loved for nothing more that to stay here with you. You know that, right?" She bit her quivering lips and nodded silently before giving him one final hug. The two then separated, their arms brushing along each other until her soft, gentle hands left his own rough, battle-hardened ones. "I'll be back soon", he said to her before walking out the door, his back now facing the one thing he cherished as he walked beside many of his fellow clan members. _Nikko, my love...Hahen, my child...I swear to you both, that I will pave the road to a better way of life for our clan! We will be acknowledged as more than mere killers! We will be heroes...and that is a promise I intend to keep..._

* * *

Senshoku's fiery will to protect those he considered precious burned ferociously throughout the war; from the moment he let out a roar of approval to the Kazekage leading the Shinobi Alliance, to the gruesome times he had to endure as his fellow clansmen died by his side. As he used his blessed kekkei genkai to slice through the enemy defenses, his thoughts always remained on his wife and child. Their love for him was the very thing that kept him moving through the darkest of times, acting as a torch as it illuminated the paths he would take to ensure his own survival. Months had passed, blood was shed, lives were lost, but the war was won. The desert air reeked of dried blood as it cooked on top of the sun-soaked sand of Wind Country, and the stench made Senshoku sick to his stomach. He held his broken, untreated ribs in one arm as he slowly made his way through the desert towards his village. His body was covered in fresh scars and sweat, and he couldn't tell if his fatigue was caused because of his long journey home or his lack of chakra. He kept his eyes set on his destination which lay in the distance, not daring to look behind him as he slumped onward. He had left with at least 100 clansmen before the war had begun only to be alone on the same path in the opposite direction, his only company being the thoughts of home. However, things had changed since he was last there...

Senshoku breathed a sigh of relief once he was within yards of the village entrance. _Finally...I can finally rest at ease. We have won, our reputation is cleansed. We can..._ His thoughts were interrupted by an odd smell that became more prominent as he stepped closer and closer to the entrance. _What is this...why do I smell smoke? _

His brow slowly furrowed into a curious frown as he came closer and closer to the entrance. The next thing to happen, however, was something that had only occurred a few times during the war. As soon as he walked through the entrance to the village, his pupils shrank in horror as his body began to tremble. Being too weak to stand on his own two shaking legs, Senshoku fell onto his knees in the ash-covered sand as he slowly panned the horrid sight of what used to be the Hidden Ash Village. Every single man-made structure present in the village had been burned to the ground, anything that remained partially standing covered in black soot as small puffs of smoke escaped the wreckage.

Senshoku's mind had become blank, nothing but disbelief and terror being present in his head...until he remembered Nikko. Almost as if his injuries and fatigue had vanished, he began sprinting at full speed in the direction of his house. "NIKKO, HAHEN!", he began shouting at the top of his lungs in hopes of a response. Nothing. He called out for his family again and again as he came closer and closer to his house, still no response. Only when he stopped in front of his smoldered house did he stop shouting, the majority of his residence being gone while the few remaining walls had small embers flickering inside the burnt wood. Senshoku, after having paused to allow his brain a chance to process what he was seeing, slowly walked through the damaged, half-present doorway as he made his way into the very room where he last spoke with Nikko. Each step he took as he walked over the scorched floorboards felt unreal, as if this were all a bad dream. Almost instinctively, Senshoku made his way towards what used to be Hahen's room, almost expecting to see his son hiding under the bed alongside Nikko as they both waited for him. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Within the half-present, smoldered walls of the child's room was nothing but a small metal plate laying on the floor near a corner. Senshoku saw it's familiar shape, the slight grey coloration that partially showed underneath the soot, small details like that. These small details told him exactly what that plate was, yet he refused to believe it. He refused to believe that the metal plate which he was slowly approaching would be his old Hidden Ash forehead protector. When he was inches away from it, he slowly knelt down and gently picked up the plate, the soft, powdery soot coming off with the slightest contact from his fingers. Senshoku stared at it momentarily before he took his thumb and wiped the soot off of the headband's symbol...the Hidden Ash symbol.

As soon as his eyes met with the familiar symbol of his home town, his whole body began to tremble. He gripped the metal plate tightly in his hands as he brought it up to his forehead, shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth as he attempted not to break down into an emotional mess. Still, as tough of a soldier as he was, as big of a man as he was, he couldn't stop the tears as they slowly began to roll down his cheeks in small beads. His thoughts were quickly overcome with guilt as he shuttered. _Nikko was right, I should have stayed...if I stayed, this never would have happened...this is my fault...what kind of a man am I..._

Senshoku's depressing thoughts were stopped when he heard a very faint noise from behind...the sound of a footstep. He quickly spun around in high hopes of seeing either Nikko or Hahen, but only became infuriated when he realized that the person behind him was neither. The person was a Zetsu clone, it's smug little grin spread across the face as if to say "oh, was this your house? So sorry about that". Senshoku's eyes shrank as his whole body turned into glass, slowly standing up while dropping the soot-covered plate onto the blackened floor. _This is the bastard responsible? This is the bastard who did this to MY family?_ Senshoku's lip curled into a snarl as his heart began to beat faster, his breathing becoming similar to that of a feral animal about to attack it's prey. He had nothing left in his life because of this...thing that stood before him. This thing which smiled at him at the worst possible moments in his life, both during and after the war. Well...Senshoku would give it a reason to never smile again...

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!", he shouted at the top of his lungs as he dove into the monster, glass spikes erecting from his entire body as he began to shred the Zetsu clone with his fists. He was blinded by his rage, nothing but anger flowing through his veins and powering his punches as the face of the Zetsu clone slowly began to resemble shredded paper. Senshoku wished it could bleed, he wished that he could see the dark-red liquid being ejected from the corpse he was now beating relentlessly. He wanted to see it's blood splatter on the walls, spill onto the floor, cloak his fists and splash onto his body as he took away the only thing that he assumed a Zetsu would want in life: existence. His punches began to slow down gradually,and eventually stopped all together as he began panting heavily, looking down at the white shreds of fake flesh that were scattered all over the place. Senshoku stood on his wobbling legs and backed up, seeing that the only real identifiable part of his victim were the torso and legs. Although he had decimated one of the many bastards responsible for his newfound pain, it was not enough. He still felt angry, his fists shaking with rage as he looked up into the sun which hung directly above him. Not knowing any other way to vent his fury, he thrusted his arms out to his sides and let out a battle cry towards the blazing sun. All of his anger, his sorrow, his lonliness...the sun would be the only one to hear of it all...for there was nobody else in Senshoku's life that would listen...

* * *

Months had passed, tears were shed, yet loneliness remained within the glass man's heart as he wandered the vast sandy deserts of Wind Country. He was a ghost; a man with no name, no title, no ties to this world that gave him a purpose to live his life. He simply wandered around covering himself up in a black hooded cloak as he searched for a reason to exist...and he had found none so far.

His daily routine was simple: go into a nearby town, steal produce and money, then spend said money on an inn for the night as he wolfed down the stolen food. Having already finished the first two tasks, Senshoku was now making his way to a not-so-peaceful town by the name of Orochiasu in order to get some rest for the night.

Orochiasu, what a mess; so many things occur here that nobody knows what's good and what's bad anymore. Everything passes through this place at some point; be it a merchant, trader, traveler, or trouble. Mostly trouble. Heck, a few years back before the war began, there was apparently some sort of battle in the outskirts of the place. Senshoku didn't know all the details, nor did he care to find out. All he knew was that the town's cemetary got ruined, and the gravekeeper was not happy when he discovered it. That small tale alone made Senshoku feel on-edge as he walked across the massive wooden bridge leading into the town; trouble was always lurking somewhere within Orochiasu, whether you could see it or not...

In fact, Senshoku happened to stumble across such trouble as he made his way around the outermost part of the village, the place where he was least likely to come across anybody. A group of five rugged men were standing in a circle as they belittled and shoved an innocent woman, and each man held a knife behind their back. Senshoku stopped moving as he took in the scene, feeling a frown spread across his brow as the night's ominous wind began to blow his cloak around. The helpless nature of the women, the unfair manner in which the men rendered her helpless as they pushed her, groped her, hit her...it reminded Senshoku of his village's destruction, and how those who could not fight were most likely tortured before being killed. The glass man made a fist that could have crushed and contents within it's grip, his arm beginning to shake with anger. "Hey...", he managed to say in a calmly.

Needless to say, he gained the attention of the five men with ease, though their faces indicated that they were not exactly pleased by Senshoku's interruption. One of the men in the back grabbed the woman from behind as he groped her, holding a knife to her neck as to prevent her from struggling. "Get lost", one of the men said as he raised his knife, the moon's light reflecting off of it's cold, metallic surface.

Senshoku was unphased by the man's meaningless threats and remained as still as a statue, the only thing moving on him being his cloak which was easily influenced by the wind's presence. He stared right at the man who threatened him, his glassy eyes fixated on the thug's neck. There was nothing particularly interesting there, but that's not why Senshoku was looking there...he was simply lining up his shot.

"I said get lost", the man said more aggressively as he took a step towards Senshoku; a fatal mistake on his part. Senshoku thrusted a palm out from under his cloak and shot a thin glass shard deep into the man's neck. The thug dropped his knife and clutched at the wound as he began to choke, the profuse bleeding slowly cloaking parts of his body in a thick layer of crimson red before he collapsed to the ground motionless. The other men's eyes shrank upon witnessing this, all of them glancing to Senshoku, their dead comrade, and then back to Senshoku.

"I would suggest that you release the woman", Senshoku said as his arm retreated back under his cloak, "...if you wish to live."

To Senshoku's surprise, the four remaining men actually all rushed towards him at once, weapons drawn and blood lust clearly in their heads. The glass man made two glass kunai underneath his cloak and dashed towards the opposition. The first man leapt upwards in an attempt to bring his knife down into Senshoku, though his plan was thwarted when the missing-nin threw his kunai directly into the man's face. The second man was directly in front of Senshoku, and had raised his weapon skywards only to get slashed across the throat. The third attempted to circle the glass man in order to attack from behind, but Senshoku's kunai was thrown backwards and became lodged in the man's chest, piercing the heart of the thug. The final man, who was mortified by the sight of his allies being killed with ease, attempted to run. It meant naught, for Senshoku simply leapt into the air and landed on the man, pinning him down onto the ground while forcing a knee down into his back.

"G-get off me! Y-you win, I'll scram, just let me live!", the man begged as he began to weep like a child.

Senshoku gritted his teeth, annoyed by the thug's actions. "Weeping like an infant and begging for mercy? How pathetic." He paused to allow the thug's tears to soak the stoney ground which he was pinned on. "Very well, I shall let you live. However, if I, Senshoku Hira of the Stained Glass, ever find you again...I shall not be so forgiving", he said as he stood up. The thug quickly shot up and glanced at Senshoku's face, drawing a mental picture of the killer before running out of the glass man's sight.

Senshoku's expression eased up as he let out a sigh. He turned around to stare at his handiwork; four dead bodies littered the floor as their blood soaked into the stone ground, the moon's light making the scene appear more sinister than it already was. The woman who had been harassed, walked over to the corpse of the man who groped her, and spit on it with intense hatred in her eyes. She then directed her gaze to Senshoku, her feelings of hatred almost instantly replaced by feelings of intrigue, gratitude, fear...and a hint of lust for her knight in shining armor.

They two stared at each other for a few seconds before Senshoku began walking towards her...and then past her, continuing his search for an inn. She watched him walk farther and farther away before deciding to chase after him. "HEY, WAIT A MINUTE", she shouted as she came closer to her hero.

Senshoku continued to walk, uninterested in whatever the damsel had to say. She soon caught up to him, and walked by his side as she stared at his cold, stoic face. "Thanks for your help...", she said kindly as she gave him a smile.

Senshoku didn't even bat an eye to look at her. "It would be best if you disposed of those bodies. An uproar will occur if you do not", he said stoically.

Her smile became more sly, more flirtatious. "Clearly, you're not from around here. Dead bodies found in the morning are pretty common. So many mobs and corrupt people around these parts, it's a surprise that this town's still standing", she said while folding her arms.

Senshoku slightly glanced over at the woman, realizing that he never got a good look at the chatty individual. After examining her provocative clothing, the way she swayed her hips from side to side with each step, that devilish glint in her eye as she stared at him lustfully, he realized exactly who he saved: a lady of the night. Another annoyance. He directed his eyes ahead of him, focusing on any route he could use to escape her presence. "What do you want", he said in a calm tone; however, no matter how calm he sounded, his phrase came off as rude.

The woman looked offended by the statement, shooting her hero a dirty glare. "Geez, what kind of hero are YOU supposed to be? Do you treat ALL the damsels in distress like this?"

Senshoku merely lowered his eyelids at her question. "I'm not a hero", he said stoically.

The girl raised both eyelids, yet her eyes clearly showed an unamused attitude. "Ohhhh, one of them 'humble' types, are we?"

Senshoku closed his eyes and let out a low groan, one that reeked of fatigue and annoyance. He didn't bother saying anything to her, there was no need to waste his breath. However, it didn't matter; the lady of the night had gotten his clue, and her expression softened as she bowed her head.

"...well...thanks for the help. Is there any way I can repay you?", she asked before turning her head in his direction.

"I would like a place to rest for the night. That's all I would like", he said bluntly without batting an eye, continuing onwards.

The woman's lip curled into a flirtatious grin as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Oh? Is that all? Maybe you'd like...something more fun...", she cooed as she leaned in closer to her hero.

Senshoku frowned at the thought of sleeping with a defiled whore, the disgusting grime of society which all desperate men use for a few minutes of unloyal pleasure. He was about to give her a threatening glare for such a suggestion, but ultimately decided against it. If there was any chance of sleeping under a roof for free, he would not want to botch his chances.

"No...I just wish for a roof over my head tonight", he said almost robotically.

The lady of the night stared at him quizzically, wondering what kind of man would turn down her services so easily. Still, she lifted her hand from Senshoku's shoulder and nodded at him. "Alright, then we'll need to head this way", she said as she began walking ahead of the glass man, taking a sharp right at the next road. Senshoku sighed with relief, grateful that he would be able to sleep for free tonight. He was short on cash, after all.

When Senshoku had finally arrived to the woman's not-so-humble abode, he couldn't help but grimace at the horrid stench that filled the air inside her home; the place reeked of bodily fluids that were most likely the results of her services, and the floor/furniture were covered in dirty laundry. The lady was completely unphased by the stench as she walked in behind Senshoku and shut her door.

"Follow me", she said as she walked through a narrow hallway to a door. Senshoku's eyelids lowered as he began making his way towards her, examining the walls and floor as he walked. The paint on the walls was peeling off, and the wooden-plank floor was uneven, warped.

The glass man was about to comment on it after walking through the door to the rather spacious bedroom that this woman was giving him. He was dumbfounded, actually; from what he had seen of the house, he assumed that this lady was rather poor. However, this room was luxurious: a bed that looked like two king-sized mattresses pushed together with red velvet covers blanketing it sat on one side of the room, candles slowly illuminating the room as the woman went around with a lit matchstick in hand. Senshoku kicked off his sandals without being told to do so, and took a single step onto the plush, bleach-white carpeting that his feet practically sank into. He gave a comfortable moan as he took off his cloak and threw it onto the floor, his bare upper body taking in the warmth that only this room seemed to contain. It was comforting; any inn Senshoku could afford usually had the chilly night air seeping through the walls and into the bedrooms. The thoughts of a comfortable bed inside a warm room filled the glass man's head, and it brought a slight smile to his face. He walked over to the bed and began running his hand along the velvet cover, the soft fabric making his spine tingle slightly.

"So, does the humble hero have a name, or was Senshoku Hira the real deal?", the lady of the night asked as she observed Senshoku's body with a flirtatious grin. He was a rather stocky individual with scars all over his upper body; no doubt, each one probably came with it's own story to tell.

Senshoku's comforting grin slowly vanished as he turned to face the woman, his stoic demeanor taking charge of his actions yet again. "I am Senshoku Hira, yes. And you are?"

The woman folded her arms as she began to twirl her hair around a finger, her flirtatious grin still very present. "I'm Deiji...just Deiji", she said quietly.

Senshoku remained stoic, machine-like in response. "I'm grateful for your hospitality, Deiji."

"Oh, I'd do anything for a humble man...", she cooed.

The glass man's eyelids lowered as he shot her a subtle amount of killing intent, not in the mood for her antics. A chill went down her spine, causing her sly expression to be replaced by the saddening look of rejection. "I uh...I'm sorry...you must be tired", she said, clearly embarrassed by her actions. Normally she would have already seduced an ordinary man, but this one was different. Much different. So much so, in fact, that she couldn't help but ask "Why aren't you interested in a free one? I only want to thank you properly..."

Senshoku gave her a frown, a deep and hard one that belonged on a killer's face. "My wife would not appreciate it if I were to accept your offer", he said with a stone-cold demeanor.

Deiji's eyelids raised slightly in surprise. "A LOYAL married man in THIS town? Where are you from, anyways?"

Senshoku's gaze was slowly lowered to the ground, depression beginning to take over his facial expression. "I...am from nowhere. Any home or family I had in the past is gone now. I walk and act alone...yet my family still watches over me."

Silence fell upon the two, Senshoku having nothing left to say while Deiji was at a loss for words. What was one suppossed to say to a widower after attempting to seduce him? "O-oh...I'm so sorry, I meant no disrespect...", she muttered nervously.

The glass man sighed quietly. "It is fine...", he said in a more tired tone of voice as he sat down on the side of the bed. He began running his hand along the velvet covers again, attempting to regain that warm, tingling sensation of comfort. It did nothing.

Not knowing what else to do, Deiji walked over to Senshoku and sat beside him, the carpet attracting the attention of her gaze as well. "I lost my husband not too long ago", she said quietly.

This confession gained Senshoku's attention, causing him to slowly turn his head in her direction. Was this woman actually trying to relate with him on an emotional level? He squinted slightly at the idea, 'good luck' being the only thought he had on the subject.

Deiji let out a soft, sad chuckle. "It's funny, isn't it? During the war, he was in so much danger and I did nothing but worry for him constantly. When he got home, I was so happy...and then some...some bastard got him from behind with a knife, took all his money and ran off", she said quietly as she began to squeeze the bed cover in her quivering hand.

Senshoku looked into her eyes, and saw something familiar in them: anger, grief, mourning. However, that's not the only thing he thought was familiar about her eyes. He felt like-no, he KNEW that he'd seen them before. Suddenly, his eyelids lowered in a stoic manner as it dawned upon him; those were his eyes.

The very eyes that he saw every time his depressed self rose in the mornings and looked in whatever shabby bathroom mirror he had available within an inn's bathroom. The very eyes that he saw whenever he attempted to stare into the calm waters of a pond before his reflection appeared. The very eyes that had witnessed pain that no human should endure...and she had them, as well. Without realizing what he was doing, he found himself grabbing Deiji's hand, causing her to look at him with surprise.

"I...I'm sorry for your loss, Deiji", was all Senshoku managed to choke out before looking away. "...it is hard to accept, isn't it...", he muttered. Although he said it to himself, Deiji still heard his question.

Deiji's expression softened up as the battle-hardened shinobi's own face began to show subtle signs of emotion. "You mean the loneliness?", she asked him gently.

He kept his head bowed and remained silent, the only reaction to her question was his grip on her hand tightening slightly. Yes...the lonliness had been eating away at his conscience for so long that he had forgotten about the freedom he gained. The freedom to do anything he pleased...anything he wanted... However, the only thing he wanted was to be with Nikko and Hahen...his family. It did not matter how free of a man he was now, because he would never be able to replace the life he once had...the only one he wanted.

"Senshoku...", he heard her say as he fell through the bottomless abyss of his depressing thoughts. He snapped out of his small trance as his eyes slide to the side, looking right at her. She had a comforting smile on her face, and put a hand on his cheek as she turned his head towards her. "I know how you feel, I really do. But what you have to realize is that you're not alone. The war's ruined the lives of many people, and left a lot of grieving husbands and wives. That doesn't mean that the people who've lost a loved one...", she paused as she leaned in closer, Senshoku now able to feel her hot breath on his face, "...can't mourn together...or make themselves happy again..."

Senshoku gulped quietly as his eyes began to wander over her. She was ravishing, for sure; beautiful enough to tame even the most ferocious of beasts. Her provocative clothing she wore on her upper body gave Senshoku a good view of what he was dealing with, and kept him abreast of the current situation. He turned a bit red and frowned slightly as his eyes glanced back up into her's, trying to control himself. "My wife...my family..."

"They're no longer with you, Senshoku. Just embrace your new life, try to live for yourself...", she said as she planted a soft, yet seductive kiss on his lips.

He tried to resist temptation, he really did. However, the soft lips of Deiji proved much to tempting for the glass man as he began to embrace her. Their night was a noisy, hot and heavy one. Both were full of energy, ecstatic and relaxed when they were done having fun. As Senshoku began to drift off to sleep with Deiji's head resting on his chest, he thought about his wife, his son. What would they say about his actions? Did it really matter anymore? They would not come back, that was a fact he had finally faced. Although he knew it, that doesn't change the fact that he still missed them...loved them...felt slightly guilty for what he had just done with Deiji.

Deiji moaned softly in her sleep as she shifted around under the sheets, a small smile spreading across her face as she dreamed soundly. Senshoku looked down at her gentle face, wondering how someone so young could get turn into a prostitute so easily. He laid his head back down on his pillow as he shut his eyes. Tomorrow would be a new day for him, tomorrow would be the day when he began living his life free.

Senshoku's eyelids slowly lifted themselves upwards after a few hours of rest, glancing around the room which now lacked candle light. The place was pitch black, the only real source of light coming from beneath the door leading out of the room. Senshoku laid motionless for a moment, taking in the comfort of his surroundings one final time before he left. He shut his eyes and sighed quietly as he sat up, and paused when he noticed that the bed he was in lacked Deiji. He glanced to his left and then right, wondering if she had moved to some other spot on the behemoth of a mattress. He found nobody.

_Hm...she must have gotten up to make breakfast, _Senshoku thought as he shuffled his way out of the bed. He promptly picked up his clothes (which Deiji had practically ripped off of him before flinging them onto the floor) and got dressed. Upon opening the door, however, he felt his entire body tense up as horror swept over him. A body was chopped up into multiple pieces and scattered all over the floor of the broken-down hallway, blood getting soaked into the old wood floor as well as splotched all over the walls. Right in the center of the hallway was the head, positioned upright and facing Senshoku. Senshoku stared at the face for a moment, his eyes not yet fully adjusted to the dark. When they did adjust and he was able to see the face, Senshoku felt himself stop breathing as his eyes shrank.

"Y'see? This is what happens to people who go against the mob", a man's voice said before cackling in a crude way. Senshoku frowned and instantly turned his body into glass, ready to shed some blood with his own hands.

"You slaughter a defenseless woman and DARE to justify your actions!? REVEAL YOURSELF, COWARD!", Senshoku shouted with blood-curdling rage as his arm turned into a sharp glass blade.

A short, fat man in a suit walked into view at the other end of the hallway, a few stocky gaurds walking out by his sides. The short man had a smug grin on his face and his arms folded across his chest. "Senshoku Hira of the Stained Glass, ey? Pleasure's mine!", he said as if chunks of Deiji's body weren't scattered all over the ground between him and the glass man.

Senshoku began gritting his teeth as he slowly walked towards the man. "It won't be for long...", he said coldly.

The short man just snickered to himself before raising his hands up in the air in a mock surrender. "Woah, slow down there, killer! You have me all mixed up! I'm not here to fight!", he said with that shit-eating grin still very present. He made some sort of signal with his fingers, and the two guards stepped in front of him in a defensive posture.

Senshoku glared at the two fools, and sliced their heads clean off at a near blinding speed. Blood began erupting profusely from the open necks of the fresh corpses as they collapsed to the ground, soaking both Senshoku and the suited man, phasing neither of them. "That is not my issue, is it?", the glass man growled.

The suited man lowered his hands and glanced down at his suit, inspecting the fresh stains. "Well...I see that you're in a hurry to kill me, so perhaps I should just get straight to the point", he said as he looked up into the murderous eyes of Senshoku. "I wish to employ you!"

Senshoku was ready to chop the man down to an even shorter stature. "Is that your attempt at humor...it is not amusing in the slightest...", he said as he turned his head to Deiji's head and then back to the short man. "You honestly expect me to accept a ridiculous offer like that after you butchered this innocent woman?", he spat.

The mob boss laughed at this remark, causing Senshoku's normal hand to shoot out and grasp the his neck. He felt like his wind pipe was going to be crushed, which made his smug demeanor vanish rather quickly. "Y-you don't understand!", he choked out. "She worked for us, she helped smuggle and stash away drugs while she waited for my men to come pick it up! She betrayed us, sold all of our stuff to the rivaling mobs! On top of that...she gets some nutjob like you to kill off my men in the streets...it was simply a matter of business..."

Senshoku's grip grew tighter, causing the man to gasp harder for the smallest amount of air. "That is still not my issue, is it? My issue is that you killed her, plain and simple. Give me one good reason why I should let you live..."

The man attempted to pry his neck from Senshoku's iron grip, yet to no avail as he continued struggling. "B...because I can give you a reason to live..." he said breathlessly.

Senshoku gritted his teeth and chucked the man behind him, his back landing in the gore and blood he was responsible for. "You would have the GALL to say that to me?!"

The suited man scrambled in an attempted to stand up, yet the blood on the floor caused him to slip constantly. He looked up at Senshoku as he began pushing himself backwards, the glass man's walking easily able to keep up. "I found out through Deiji! She said that you would be a useful person to have working for us!" This made Senshoku pause, which brought some of the boss's more smug demeanor back. "...and, I would agree with her."

"...I just killed you men."

"Exactly! You're a fantastic killer! You would be the perfect man to carry out some of the more...'dirty' jobs..."

Senshoku stayed silent, his fury slowly fading away as he began to think of Deiji. Would she have truly suggested him for a position in a crime mob? He wasn't sure, he barely knew her. Not that it mattered, the real issue was sprawled out on the bloody floor before him. Was this man trustworthy? He killed Deiji, after all, and in a rather brutal fashion. He claims it was simply a matter of business, but was that all? Senshoku didn't know who or what to think anymore...it was too much for his senses. Heh...and here he thought that maybe, just maybe, he could start to live independently...

"You seem smarter than the average killer under our control, so I'm positive that you will be able to climb the ranks within the organization. You could even be in charge of it all, one day...the people of any city we control would refer to you as "Lord Senshoku", business partners will claw at each other in order to gain your attention, you'll have vast political power...a significant role to play...", the short man said.

Senshoku snapped out of his daze and squinted at the man. A significant role to play...a purpose...that was something he certainly wished for. Now that he thought about it, he most likely wouldn't be able to live any sort of normal life, regardless of what he tried to do. He was a Hira, a warrior with no home and a blood-stained reputation. Who would want him around, anyways... He stayed silent as he continued to stare at the man, contemplating if this was the path in life he wished to take.

"So, what's it gonna be...Lord Senshoku?", the man said slyly as he stood up.

Senshoku remained silent as he slowly turned back to his normal flesh form. His glassy eyes became more cold, more detached from the world than they had been earlier. Deiji was right, it was time to live his own life...for if he didn't, there would be nothing left to live for.

"...when can I begin..."

_PRESENT TIME_

Senshoku had his arms folded, and he was gripping his arm tightly. His face was stoic yet again, free of the emotional burden of shouldering his past without a mention to anybody. _That's right, this is my life. This is what I have made myself into...and though I am not very proud of it, I would rather have this over nothing._

Jiyu was giving the glass man, surprisingly, an empathetic look. Why did he feel bad for this guy? He simply wanted to buy himself some time...and yet, he still felt sorry for the man. He was able to imagine the pain, what it must have felt like to lose someone that precious. Then Jiyu began to think about his own life, and how he too had lost family members. Of course, his story was rather different. He was much too young to even remember his parents, plus he had spent his whole life with Ketsui and Warai. He didn't get to feel it, the pain which drove an honorable man down into the dirt of society. If he were older, though...if he were older and had witnessed the death of his family in the same fashion, would he also have done the same? Just how easily was one's will broken through grief?

Jiyu's face saddened a bit more as he looked away, coming to a realization: maybe he wasn't so different from Senshoku, after all. Both had lost family, both were considered outcasts, and both had to make something out of their lives...however, Jiyu was only beginning down his path. Senshoku was too far ahead to walk beside, to comfort, to turn around...

"My position within the crime industry rose over the years. Eventually, I did inherit the role of 'Lord Senshoku', and I gained my own group of men to carry out petty jobs for me." Senshoku's words successfully snapped Jiyu back to reality, causing the genin to look at him. There was still time to stall, and Jiyu would certainly take advantage of it.

"How'd you take over the city, though?", he asked in a slightly more upset tone. Jiyu didn't realize how the question came out sounding, but Senshoku certainly did. The glass man's eyelids rose in slight curiosity, but chose to act as if he had not noticed.

"It's quite simple, really: corruption is everywhere, including this village. As soon as I found out that the Kazekage had rebuilt over the ashes of my home without any real concern over the loss of my people...I simply had to reclaim my land. Anybody with high political influence in this village is owned by me, and they will do as I say. My presence is well known throughout the area because I make examples out of those who wish to defy m-"

"Y'know, we're not so different", Jiyu said abruptly. He turned his head to face the glass man, who looked bewildered by the statement.

"...what do you mean?", Senshoku asked quizzically.

Jiyu retained his sad, empathetic look. "We've both lost family in the war, for one thing."

Senshoku just stared at the boy, his face slowly becoming more stoic with every passing second. "Do not even try to relate with me, child. I can see it in your eyes, you've never felt the pain I have endured. You've lived a happy life thus far, never experiencing the loss of a loved one." He found himself beginning to frown, insulted that an ignorant kid would so much as TRY to draw connections with him. "Answer me this, boy. If we have truly both stared into the abyss, have you stared long enough for it to look back at you..."

The two remained silent, one awaiting an answer and the other being at a loss for words. They stared in each other's eyes, attempting to examine the enemy's thoughts. Why was this child so concerned about the criminal's well-being? Why was this man so eager to share his life story with this boy? And finally...why did Jiyu still have his eyes in his head if this man was truly a cold, heartless monster?

Before Jiyu could open his mouth to come up with some sort of answer to the glass man's question, Senshoku frowned and looked up the volcano's throat, the clear night sky riddled with stars. "...reinforcements..."

Excitement jolted through Jiyu's body as soon as he heard the word escape Senshoku's mouth. "What!? Where?!", he said as he quickly lifted his head up.

"In the middle of town, nowhere near here...however, I will not remove your eyes now. It's far too risky with them nosing about", Senshoku said as he began walked over to the lift. Once he stood on the metallic platform, he turned and faced the genin who was still eyeing him. "...you're certainly a strange one...", he said as he pulled the lever, causing the lift to rise.

Jiyu watched as the lift traveled upwards towards the night sky, and longed to be on it and feel the cool air upon his face. He was tired of this wooden table, this hot volcano hideout, these glass chains...he was tired of this mission. And as much as he wanted his team to save him, he couldn't help but hope that Senshoku didn't die. Jiyu shut his eyes and leaned his head back as he let out a loud, long sigh. His eyes hurt.

* * *

Senshoku kept his eyes skyward as he came closer and closer to the top of the volcano. _What does it mean to be free? To make your own decisions, of course._

He decided to take the short way down, and began chakra running down the side of the the ancient throat of the Earth as he came closer and closer to his village. _If that is the case, am I truly free then? I am not the highest-ranking mob boss currently, and I hear that even he takes his orders from someone outside the loop._

He leapt off of the volcano before it met with the ground, front-flipping in the air. He landed on his hands and a knee in the soft, cooling sand of the village's roads. The chilly night air made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he felt goosebumps welling up on his flesh. _Perhaps I am not free...perhaps my old life will never release me. I am a man who continues to look for reasons to live by doing the bidding of others. I cannot help it, for that is my nature. I am no leader...I am merely a follower. If I am left on my own accord, I wander aimlessly, endlessly, and strive only to survive._

Senshoku slowly rose up from the ground, hearing a few windows shut nearby; citizens must wish to not be seen gawking at him. He began walking at a leisurely pace down one of the many sandy roads of the Hidden Smoke Village, his glassy eyes aimed straight ahead. _Nikko, Hahen, my very reasons for even being alive...my soul rests with you. I'm sorry, but I am no longer the Senshoku you once knew...I'm distant, alien to this world. I've made the presence of the Hira clan known, though not in the way I would have wished...heh...Hira "clan". Who am I trying to fool...there is no more Hira "clan"...it is only me. I simply cannot let go of the past as easily as one may think. My past was my everything...you two were my everything..._

Senshoku stopped walking and folded his arms when he reached intersecting roads in the middle of the village. He frowned as he attempted to fight back a tear he felt welling up inside his eye. The thoughts of his wife and child were too heavy to shoulder, especially now...now, as he stood before seven shinobi looking to take his head. Four Hidden Sand, two Hidden Mist, all opponents of his.

The Hidden Mist jounin gritted his teeth at the presence of Senshoku, and his eyes began to glow. The Hoshigaki genin drew her sword as a smug grin curled on her lips, ready for round two. The genjutsu user, though clearly fearful of the glass man's presence, lifted his hood up and drew two kunai as a calm demeanor slowly masked his face. The Sand Jinchuuriki began unbuttoning the many pockets on his rather odd-looking pants, sand beginning to flow from them as if it had life of it's own. The Sand genin with the gauntlets pounded his fist into his palm as he gave Senshoku a deep glare, who was able to feel the shockwave from the impact where he stood. The Hidden Sand girl drew her sycthe and looked quite determined as she got into a defensive position. The Sand jounin promtly pulled out a scroll and unraveled it while making a hand sign, one of his three signature puppets appearing after a small cloud erupted from the paper.

Senshoku stood motionless, watching all of them carefully. _I am Senshoku Hira of the Stained Glass...I am a man with nothing to lose, and everything to gain...I have no ties to this world, no purpose to linger...so please, if I am to die here, then grant me an honorable death..._

_...for I wish to see my family once more..._

Senshoku's entire body turned into glass as he unfolded his arms.

"...shall we begin?"


End file.
